Dive Brief:
- Honda is raising wages 11% for production workers in the U.S., the company confirmed in an email. The Wall Street Journal reported the news first on Friday.
- The wage increases will take effect in January at Honda manufacturing plants in the U.S. The company did not say how many plants would be affected.
- Honda is also reducing the time it takes to reach top wages from six years to three. The Big Three tentatively agreed to similar changes with the United Auto Workers union.
Dive Insight:
The pay hikes at Honda follow Toyota’s decision to raise worker wages by 9% in the U.S., as well as the historic labor contracts that the UAW and the Big Three automakers have tentatively agreed to, which includes incremental wage increases of 25% for union members over the next four and a half years.
Honda operates 12 manufacturing plants in the U.S. that produce 5 million products a year, including Honda and Acura vehicles, engines, transmissions, aircraft engines, motorcycles, ATVs and other powersports products.
“This increase is for all associates on a pay progression, which includes production associates employed at our U.S. auto and powersports facilities as of January 2024,” said Honda spokesperson Chris Abbruzzese in an email. The automaker did not say how many employees would get pay raises.
Honda has added more than 10 new benefits and programs since 2021, including childcare reimbursement and student loan repayment.
Earlier this month, Toyota said it would raise wages from $31.86 to $34.80 per hour for production workers and $39.50 to $43.20 for skilled trades.
The UAW does not represent hourly workers at Honda and Toyota, but the union is encouraging Toyota's U.S. workers to unionize after securing its big wins from the Detroit Three.
Last week, when addressing Stellantis employees, UAW president Shawn Fain took credit for the reason Toyota decided to raise wages, citing the historic agreements with General Motors, Ford and Stellantis. He then invited its autoworkers to join the UAW.
“Even though you’re not yet members of our union, that pay raise Toyota is giving you is the UAW bump. UAW — that stands for ‘you are welcome.’” Fain said in a video message. “You are welcome to join our stand up movement.”
Toyota, however, only said they continually review their compensation packages to remain competitive.
