After 40 days on the picket line, General Motors autoworkers voted Oct. 25 to accept a new contract that offers salary increases and other concessions. The agreement may offer relief for more than 48,000 United Auto Workers (UAW) members after the longest nationwide strike against GM in nearly 50 years, but the standoff cost both the company and its workers dearly. Changing Gears The new contract scraps the company’s bisected salary structure, under which workers hired after 2007 were paid less and had no way to reach the top salaries of longer-serving employees.