Temporary and part-time schedules work differently again. Those postings pay an hourly rate without the progression, so the yearly number depends far more on the hours a manager schedules than on the wage scale.
How much does a GM production worker earn per week and per year?
At the $29.41 grid rate, a 40 hour week brings $1,176 gross, and a full year of that schedule pays $61,152 before overtime. After 52 weeks on the line, the same 40 hours pay $1,333 a week and $69,264 a year.
Overtime is part of the math on any plant schedule. Overtime hours are paid at time and a half, so a heavy production month can add more than the base rate suggests, especially when a model changeover runs long.
At the top of the skilled range, a journeyperson maintenance worker earns $1,668 a week and $86,736 across 52 weeks, before any overtime or shift premium.
Gross earnings for a GM hourly worker at three grid rates| Schedule | At $29.41 an hour | At $33.33 an hour | At $41.70 an hour |
|---|
| 40 hours a week | $1,176 | $1,333 | $1,668 |
| 45 hours a week, with 5 hours of overtime | $1,487 | $1,667 | $2,080 |
| 40 hours, annualized over 52 weeks | $61,152 | $69,264 | $86,736 |
Profit sharing is the part of the package that never appears in a job ad. The formula is simple: $1,000 for every $1 billion of North American pretax profit, rounded to the nearest $250, and it is paid once a year in February to eligible members.
Because it is tied to profit, the cheque moves with the business. In a strong year the payment is a meaningful bonus; in a loss year it can disappear entirely, which is exactly what happened at Stellantis while GM and Ford paid out.
How much profit sharing do GM hourly workers actually get?
GM paid up to $10,500 per eligible union member in profit sharing for 2025, distributed on Friday, February 27, 2026. That is the single largest part of a GM hourly package that most job ads never mention.
The formula is simple and written into the contract. GM pays $1,000 for every $1 billion of North American pretax profit, rounded to the nearest $250, and 2025 pretax profit was $10.4 billion. The previous year's record payment was $14,500 per member.
Because the payout tracks profits, it moves with the business. In a loss-making year the payment shrinks or disappears, so a GM worker's total compensation is less predictable than the wage grid alone suggests.
Profit sharing for the Big Three in the 2025 payout year| Employer | Maximum payment per eligible member | Note |
|---|
| General Motors | $10,500 | On $10.4 billion of North American pretax profit |
| Ford | $6,780 | About 56,300 active US hourly workers, lowest in three years |
| Stellantis | No payment | Company reported losses |
Set the numbers side by side and the gap shows up quickly. A Ford posting starts at $21 an hour, Ford assembler rates average $38.41, Tesla production associates sit near $19.58, and GM production workers reach the low thirties on the grid.
How does GM pay compare with Ford, Tesla, and other automakers?
GM's represented production rate sits above the entry wage most automakers post, and above Tesla's hourly floor. Ford advertised $21.00 an hour plus shift premiums for temporary production team members in 2026, while Ford's union assembler rates average $38.41 after the October 2026 raise.
Tesla's production associate role averages $19.58 an hour across PayScale reporters, with city figures of $21.29 in Reno and $24.35 in California. That is the lowest-paid title inside Tesla itself, where the company average is $27.30 an hour.
National benchmarks put the same work in the same place. The BLS May 2025 median for helpers in production was $18.78 an hour, for miscellaneous assemblers $21.47, and for first-line supervisors of production and operating workers $35.79.
How automotive production pay compares in 2026| Employer or benchmark | Entry or representative rate | Skilled or senior rate |
|---|
| General Motors UAW grid | $29.41 starting, $33.33 after 52 weeks | $41.70 journeyperson maintenance |
| Ford | $21.00 posted plus shift premiums | $38.41 average assembler rate |
| Tesla production associate | $19.58 average | $24.35 in California |
| BLS helpers in production | $18.78 median hourly | Not applicable |
| BLS miscellaneous assemblers | $21.47 median hourly | $31.19 at the 90th percentile |
What are the average GM production pay figures reported online?
Online trackers put GM production and manufacturing hourly pay between $16.67 and $41.43, with a model maker near $31.04. These are submitted-salary averages, so they mix temporary hires, journeypersons and salaried staff in one number.
PayScale reports a company-wide average of $13.95 an hour for General Motors across 116 reporters, with a Fair Pay score of 2.16 out of 5. That figure tracks the large hourly workforce rather than the skilled trades.
Canadian reviewers see a different picture. Indeed's Ontario data shows a production operator at $30.18 an hour and an industrial mechanic at $51.97, and most respondents there say they are paid fairly at GM.
The Canadian agreement is a separate deal, bargained by a different union, and it is quoted in Canadian dollars. Production workers there are already above $44 an hour, and the three-year deal carries that figure past $50 with the cost-of-living adjustment folded in.
What is the Canadian GM wage agreement worth?
The Canadian agreement, negotiated with UNIFOR in 2026, takes production base wages above $50 an hour and skilled trades above $62 an hour by September 2028. It adds 3 percent in every contract year and folds in a $1.42 cost-of-living adjustment.
Current earnings sit at $44.52 an hour for production workers and $55.97 for skilled trades, with a $29,547 gain for full-rate production members spread across the three years.
Temporary part-time Canadian workers move from $31.16 an hour to $34.07 in September 2026, reaching $36.14 two years later, and the revised progression adds 2 percent at each step.
Contracts run through April 30, 2028, and bargaining starts before that. The open questions are whether the wage progression survives, what happens to temporary workers, and whether profit sharing holds if margins move against the company again.
What happens to GM hourly pay next?
The UAW contracts covering Ford, General Motors and Stellantis all expire on April 30, 2028, and bargaining will restart with roughly 150,000 US and Canadian members
in the room. GM North America posted $3.7 billion of earnings in the first quarter of 2026, which shapes the room both sides negotiate in.
The union has said it wants wage progressions eliminated and living wage guarantees for newer hires. It has also criticised battery venture start rates of $16 an hour as barely above the poverty line for a family of four.
One change is already visible inside the plants. GM converted 3,295 temporary employees to full-time positions nationally, and the union is still working through concerns about automation and how new technology changes the work.
Next steps
Read the union grid rather than the job ad when you compare GM against other automakers, and ask whether the role you want is hourly, temporary, or skilled trades.
Photo: Quanlecntt2004, Pixabay Content License, via Pixabay (https://pixabay.com/photos/worker-woman-mask-face-mask-6322085/)
Fazlur Rahman
