An unprecedented six-week strike at the Big Three U.S. automakers is ending with an agreement in principle reached Monday between General Motors and the UAW union, following deals reached at Ford and Stellantis, deals President Joe Biden described as “historic.” AFP.

“These record deals reward auto industry workers who made many sacrifices to keep the industry alive” during the Great Depression of 2009, the US president said.

Biden’s union support has been a hallmark of his tenure, and the UAW’s support for his 2020 bid helped swing Michigan in his favor, despite the state voting for Donald Trump in 2016.

In late September, the president visited a picket near the General Motors plant.

Confirmation of the agreement in principle between GM and the UAW came around 20:00 GMT, minutes after the close of trading on the New York Stock Exchange, sources close to the talks told AFP and US media on Monday morning.

According to a press release from the union, the builder agreed, like two of its competitors, to a 25% base salary increase over the four years of the collective agreement.

That’s less than the 40 percent increase requested by union president Sean Fein, but significantly higher than the 9 percent that Ford initially proposed in August, for example.