Coronavirus/ Layoff

Your new return to work date is April 20, 2020. You will continue to file for unemployment and SUB, for those who are SUB eligible. There is NO holiday pay for anyone on layoff.

NDIANAPOLIS)  – To date, no states have begun issuing the additional $600 unemployment insurance benefits under the CARES Act, as states await further instructions from the U.S. Department of Labor.

In Indiana, the benefit will be retroactive to March 29, 2020, for qualifying Hoosiers impacted by COVID-19. 

Dear Union Brothers and Sisters: As a result of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, Members on a COVID19-related layoff may be eligible for an additional $600 of unemployment compensation. The $600 is called Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation. Per the Collective Bargaining Agreement, this payment may reduce the amount of SUB paid to individual Members should the Member receive it. The Company has notified us that they will be offsetting this amount from SUB payments should the state opt-in to the $600 payments. Members in each state will have different requirements depending on how they typically apply for SUB. AutoSUB locations (Michigan, New York, Arlington, Fairfax) will follow the AutoSUB process. Those Members will not be able to apply via IVR or Web application. Members in other locations will apply as normal via IVR, Web, or paper applications with their state UC Benefit. The Company will then offset the $600. Certainly, some Members may have issues with this process as we are aware of the State’s difficulties and the Company’s difficulties to properly apply these new laws. Please refer those Members to their Local Union Benefit Representative. The UAW Staff has been working on this non-stop and we appreciate your support and cooperation during this critical time. If you have questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact your General Motors Department Benefits Plans Section Representative for assistance. On behalf of the UAW General Motors Department Staff and Clerical, we wish you and your family the best and hope you remain safe as we get through this together.
Continue to file for unemployment just as we instructed. Continue to answer YES for SUB, for those of you who are SUB eligible, unless we tell you different. For those of you who are NOT SUB eligible, continue to answer NO. Continue to file for SUB once your money is deposited. If SUB is replaced by a stimulus package, we will tell you if there is a process change. As of now, we do NOT have a change in the process. We will keep you updated.
We have contacted the Unemployment Office, the State House and the International Union this morning over SUB pay. The International Union says they will start working on this. I find it hard to believe they weren’t aware of it. If the Stimulus package from the Government was going to replace our SUB pay, a little heads up from the IUAW or the company would have been nice. Instead, we have to inform them, WTF, after 2 weeks of this bullshit, REALLY! I will let you know what we find out. If you lose your patience, I Am Not Your Target!
WHAT IS SUB PAY? I will continue to post this until everyone fully understands it. Sub pay is a supplemental payment negotiated by the UAW to make up the difference between unemployment and your regular weekly wages. Sub pay is paid by your employer, who is General Motors. Why can’t you apply for sub before you receive unemployment? If you receive sub before you receive unemployment, you have just received wages from your employer which will cancel out your unemployment. How long do you have to file sub? You have 60 days to file sub from the week in which you are filing for. I would not suggest you do that either, but that’s what my bible says, unemployment and sub exhibit D article 5,1(a) page 35. Why does it seem different than before? We have approximately 6.6 million American’s filing for unemployment, all in the same week. Calls nationwide to unemployment agencies have increased 16,000 percent. In the past you got approval shortly after you filed, and that is not the case, with all these new claims. It is imperative that you don’t file for sub first. What are the consequences if you do? We have several members that transferred here from layoff, that are paying back the sub fund right now on a weekly basis, why? Because they received sub checks before receiving unemployment for the same week and the state cancelled them for the duration of the layoff, and they continued receiving sub. The March 20th report the day we went out, and again on March 27th 2020 we reiterated you cannot apply for sub until your unemployment check is confirmed, period! It’s called willful Misrepresentation. Even though your unemployment check validates your sub check, that doesn’t mean sub won’t get paid. However, for every sub check you cash, you need an unemployment voucher to back it up. We are trying to make sure none of you fall into that predicament. It is currently 1:30 pm April 2, 2020 we have just processed over 600 of our members who fall into this category. If you have sent an email we got it, don’t follow up with a call to confirm it, we are fixing these as fast as we can. We can only hope the sub office works with us, thanks for your patience, Continue filing for unemployment as normal.