UAW Cool On Ford Concessions

The tentative deal between Ford and UAW leadership has predictably run into trouble as it moves towards a vote by local leadership. Even though the deal would still fall short of the agreement reached with GM and Chrysler and Ford has sweetened the deal with $1,000 bonuses and 2,000 extra jobs, the union’s workers are spinning the deal into a union-breaking giveaway. “We just won’t have a union anymore if we do this,” a Dearborn Truck plant bargaining committee member tells the Freep. But the rank-and-file resistance is creating divisions between Ford, union leadership and workers. Even UAW President Ron Gettelfinger admits that “isn’t a concessionary agreement,” putting workers at odds with everyone else involved in negotiations. And their motivations for turning down the deal have to be bigger than mere frustration over $500m in labor savings already granted to Ford.

The UAW’s VEBA fund owns a majority stake in Chrysler and a large part of GM’s equity, meaning it’s motivations for refusing Ford equal concessions have to be seen in a troubling light. And since Ford didn’t take the opportunity to walk away from its debts on the taxpayer dime, it’s already at a disadvantage vis-a-vis its Detroit competition. If the UAW holds firm against Ford’s generous deal, what choice do observers have but to conclude that the UAW is willing to throw Ford to the wolves in hopes of improving the value of its existing equity stakes. Ford certainly shouldn’t make a more generous offer. After all, the deal that destroyed the UAW’s raison d’etre was the bailout which gave it a stake in two of its three employers in exchange for no-strike contracts. Contrary to the insistence of Ford’s UAW workers, signing this deal with Ford is the UAW’s last chance to prove it is a union and not a hostile management team.