The United Auto Workers union has reached a tentative new collective bargaining agreement with Ford, the first step toward ending a nearly six-week strike.
The four-year deal, which includes a 25 percent across-the-board wage increase, still needs to be approved by 57,000 union members, but could end the union’s historic series of strikes at factories owned by Ford, General Motors and Jeep maker Stellantis.
“We told Ford to pay attention, and they did,” President Shawn Fain said in a video address to members. “We won things that no one thought possible.”
Wednesday marked the 41st anniversary of the start of the strike, making it the longest American auto strike in 25 years.
General Motors and Stellantis are still working with the union to reach an agreement.
The United Auto Workers union has reached a tentative collective agreement with Ford after almost six weeks. Pictured: UAW President Shawn Fain
57,000 union members still have to agree to the four-year contract
Fain (left) and UAW Vice President Chuck Browning (right) provided an update on the deal on October 25
Fain said Ford has put 50 percent more money on the table than it did before the strike began over a month ago.
UAW Vice President Chuck Browning added that by the end of the contract, workers will receive a 25 percent across-the-board wage increase and a cost-of-living increase that will result in a wage increase of more than 30 percent to more than $40 an hour for top workers at assembly plants .
The automaker restored the pre-2009 cost of living adjustment and agreed to a three-year wage increase while eliminating pay scales.
Ford, Stellantis and General Motors previously offered wage increases of 23 percent. When negotiations began, Ford offered only 9 percent.
Browning said assembly workers would receive 11 percent after ratification, nearly equal to all the wage increases workers have seen since 2007.
Temporary workers will receive a larger pay increase of 150 percent – more than they have received in the last 22 years combined.
Some workers at Ford’s Sterling Axle and Rawsonville plants will see an 85 percent pay increase. Employees with pension benefits will also see increases as they retire, and those hired after 2007 with 401(k) plans will see big increases.
For the first time, the union will have the right to strike over the company’s plans to close factories, Browning said.
“This means they cannot continue to devastate our communities and close factories without suffering consequences,” he explained. “Together we made history.”
He described the agreement as “the most lucrative agreement per member since Walter Reuther’s term.” Reuther led the union from 1946 until his death in 1970.
In a statement, General Motors said it was working “constructively” with the union to reach an agreement as quickly as possible.
Stellantis echoed that sentiment, adding that it was committed to negotiating a deal “that gets everyone back to work as quickly as possible.”
The deal with Ford could serve as a catalyst for deals with other automakers. Pictured: Workers walk off the job at Stellantis’ Sterling Heights Assembly Plant on Oct. 23
Ford offered a salary increase of 23 percent – at the beginning of negotiations it was only 9 percent. Pictured: Jim Farley, CEO of Ford Motor Company
For the first time, the union will have the right to strike over the company’s plans to close factories. Pictured: Workers hold a rally in Chicago on October 7th
The organization launched a targeted strike against Ford, General Motors and Stellantis on September 15th. Pictured: Workers hold signs in Michigan on September 29
The union’s national leadership council plans to travel to Detroit on Sunday, where it will receive a presentation on the agreement and vote on whether to recommend it to members.
That evening, the union will host a Facebook Live ahead of regional meetings to explain the deal to members.
While demonstrating at the Ford Michigan Assembly Plant on Wednesday evening, local union leaders invited workers to the union hall for a briefing on the deal.
Among them was Keith Jurgelewicz, who described the ordeal as an “emotional time.” He stood on the picket lines during all his shifts.
“But I’m just really happy that it’s over,” said Jurgelewicz. “I can’t wait to get back to work and just get on with my life.”
President Joe Biden, who visited picket lines as the strikes began, praised the agreement.
“I have always believed that the middle class built America and unions built the middle class,” Biden said in a statement.
“This tentative agreement is a testament to the power of employers and workers coming together to resolve their differences at the bargaining table in a way that helps companies thrive and workers secure wages and benefits with which they can start a family.”
Employees will receive a general wage increase of 25 percent as well as a cost of living increase, bringing the wage increase to over 30 percent. Pictured: A worker puts on a pin while demonstrating outside the Ford plant in Kentucky on Oct. 12
UAW members demonstrate outside a Stellantis facility in Michigan on September 22
Union members strike outside the Chrysler Toledo assembly plant in Ohio
Fain (in green) told workers in a video address: “We have won things that no one would have thought possible.”
Ford said it would focus on restarting the Kentucky truck plant in Louisville and the Chicago assembly plant and welcoming back 20,000 workers.
The Louisville plant alone employs 8,700 people and produces larger versions of Ford’s most profitable vehicle, the F150, as well as the Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator, which account for about $25 billion in annual sales.
Union members can finally breathe a sigh of relief as negotiations began in mid-July, almost a month before the contracts expire.
The organization launched a targeted strike against Ford, General Motors and Stellantis on September 15th.
Among other things, it called for wage increases of 40 percent, a 32-hour week and better pension benefits.
As the UAW failed to reach an agreement with automakers, a series of layoffs occurred.
Stellantis laid off 368 workers at the Toledo Machining Plant in Ohio and the Kokomo Transmission and Kokomo Casting plants in Indiana.
General Motors laid off about 2,000 workers in Fairfax, Kansas, while Ford laid off 600 non-striking workers at the Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne shortly after the strike began.
President Joe Biden joins striking UAW members on the picket line outside GM’s Willow Run dealership in Michigan on September 26
Former US President Donald Trump speaks at Drake Enterprises on September 27 to rally the support of auto workers
The strike saw approximately 30,000 members demonstrate at 44 facilities across the United States
Thousands of workers were laid off as a result of the protests. Pictured: Union members demonstrate in front of a Stellantis plant in Toledo, Ohio, on October 25
The demonstrators were joined by Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders.
On September 27, former President Donald Trump even made an appearance when he gave a speech at Drake Enterprises, a non-union auto supplier in Macomb County.
To drum up support for his 2024 presidential campaign, Trump condemned Biden’s push for electric vehicles.
“You’re all on the picket lines and stuff, but it doesn’t make any difference what you get because in two years you’ll all be out of business,” Trump said.
The protest continued to spread as the strike spread to distribution centers and the highly profitable Louisville plant, where nearly 9,000 employees walked off the job on Oct. 11.
A day later, a Ford executive said the company, which had offered a 20 percent raise and more vacation time, had “reached its limits.”
The strike saw around 30,000 members demonstrate in 44 facilities across the country.