The GM-UAW agreement would establish an eight-year grow-in period for Tier 2 workers, who were hired in recent years and are paid an hourly wage of about $16-$19, slightly more than half that of their Tier 1 counterparts. Photo credit: GM DETROIT -- UAW leaders began fanning out to General Motors plants today for meetings with skilled-trades workers, whose objection to the terms of a new four-year contract has held up the pact's ratification despite approval by a majority of the company's work force.