DETROIT, Oct 29 (Portal) – United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain will meet with local Ford (FN) union leaders on Sunday afternoon to begin the process of ratifying a new collective bargaining agreement as negotiations at General Motors (GM. N) to be continued after a setback on Saturday.
Fain ordered a strike at GM’s Spring Hill, Tennessee, engine and assembly plant on Saturday, criticizing management’s “unnecessary and irresponsible refusal to reach a fair agreement.”
It’s not clear what derailed GM and the UAW’s progress toward a deal modeled on previous deals with Ford and Chrysler owner Stellantis (STLAM.MI), but sources said a key issue was pension costs for pensioners. Those agreements gave workers a record 25% wage increase over the 4 1/2-year contract and allowed automakers to restart their profitable truck assembly lines.
According to a summary document seen by Portal, the Ford UAW deal includes a $5,000 ratification bonus, special retirement incentive packages and gives newly hired temporary workers a faster path to full-time status and the highest union wage rate. Workers will also receive a $1,500 voucher toward the purchase of a vehicle and increased company contributions toward retirement benefits.
Existing Ford temporary workers will immediately become permanent employees, on track to a top salary within three years, and the deal creates the opportunity for workers at joint ventures, battery plants and Ford’s BlueOval City electric vehicle complex in Tennessee to join and join the union to fall under the framework agreement, sources told Portal.
Shares of GM and Ford have fallen by about a fifth since the strike began on September 15. Stellantis shares are down just 1%.
GM said it was disappointed with the UAW’s decision to attack Spring Hill.
The Spring Hill strike could hamper GM’s large pickup truck production as well as assembly of other popular GM vehicles. The impact of an extended strike at Spring Hill could raise the cost of the standoff for GM well beyond the $400 million a week the company reported last week.
UAW attorney Benjamin Dictor posted on the social media site
GM is now the only Detroit automaker without a deal. Stellantis settled with the UAW on Saturday and Ford on Wednesday.
Shawn Fain, president of the United Auto Workers union, joins striking UAW members on the strike line at the Ford Michigan assembly plant in Wayne, Michigan, USA, September 15, 2023. Portal/Rebecca Cook acquires license rights
Progress toward resolving the UAW-GM dispute may slow on Sunday, as Fain is expected to attend meetings with local Ford officials in the Detroit suburb of Taylor, Michigan, at 7 p.m. ET (2300 GMT) and provide a video update will stick to the Ford deal. .
Union leaders will then head to regional meetings to explain the agreements to members, who will then vote on whether to approve them.
UAW leaders can no longer take ratification votes for granted. Last month, UAW workers at Mack Truck’s U.S. operations overwhelmingly rejected a deal recommended by Fain, while Mack said Thursday that no new talks were planned. In 2015, UAW members of what is now Stellantis voted against a collective bargaining agreement approved by union leadership.
Fain said Saturday that local union leaders at the Stellantis plants will come to Detroit on Nov. 2 before the agreement is sent to members for ratification.
LARGE checkbook
Fain was particularly tough on Ford during contract negotiations, even though the automaker had a history of working with the UAW.
At one point he told Ford CEO Jim Farley to “get the big checkbook” and declared that “the days of the UAW and Ford being a team to fight other companies are over.”
In addition to the overall wage increase, Ford’s lowest-paid contract workers would receive raises of more than 150% over the life of the contract, Fain said, and employees would reach peak pay after three years. The union also received the right to strike over future plant closures.
The UAW also succeeded in eliminating lower pay scales for workers at certain Ford suppliers, an issue Fain highlighted early in the bargaining process.
The Ford contract would reverse concessions the union had made in a series of contracts since 2007, when GM and the former Chrysler were headed for bankruptcy and Ford was mortgaging assets to stay afloat.
“We told Ford to watch out, and they did,” Fain said in a video post last week.
Reporting by Joe White in Detroit and David Shepardson in Washington; Writing by Sayantani Ghosh; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Deepa Babington
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