UAW Contract With Ford On The Ropes
My, that went downhill quickly.
United Auto Workers at a large Ford facility in Chicago voted 2-to-1 against a proposed contract with the automaker, according to the local union’s Facebook page ( via Automotive News). According to the final tally, more than 2,000 workers at the Chicago plant voted against the contract, with only 99o to approve the deal.
According to Automotive News, ratification hinges on massive approval at Ford’s F-150 plant in Dearborn, Michigan, where 60 percent of workers there would need to ratify the deal for ultimate approval.
UAW officials held an impromptu press conference to assure workers that a better deal with the automaker wouldn’t be possible and turn back negative comments in “social media,” according to UAW Local 600 leader Bernie Ricke.
“If we thought there was another dollar on the table we would have got it in the first agreement,” Ricke said according to the Detroit Free Press.
The tentative deal with Ford included a $10,000 signing bonus and pay raises for workers on top of a $9 billion plant investment program. According to reports, Tier 2 workers at Ford facilities — which comprise about 29 percent of the overall workforce — said that raises wouldn’t bring those workers up fast enough, and that the automaker wasn’t offering enough to its workers.
Voting may wrap up as early as Friday. If an agreement isn’t reached between the union and the automaker it isn’t immediately clear what would next happen. When workers at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles rejected their first proposed contract, the union returned quickly with a new deal — but narrowly averted a strike in the process.
A proposed deal between General Motors and the UAW is awaiting approval or amendment for skilled trades workers.
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From a Union man's perspective here these guys are wrong. the only thing they got to bitch about is the Car product going to mexico. is that worth going out over? what if Truck sales stay strong? they will all still be working balls out. If the bottom falls out of the truck market, Ford isn't going to make a profit selling their cars anyways......Still going to be in trouble. Take your payoff for your years of sacrifice and the resurgence of the industry and be happy. Public whining about a damn good contract is why people hate Us Union Workers. They only hear the whining not the real issues. and here, there are no real issues just the low margin cars going foreign.....
So far, the first FCA contract got soundly rejected, the GM contract is in question due to rejection by skilled trades, and now the Ford contract looks like it will probably be rejected. Somehow, somewhere, the UAW executive got waaaaaaay out of touch with the mood of the membership. It would be interesting to understand how this happened it's supposed to be a major focus of the executive's time and effort.