Ford workers vote for new contract

The final contract tally showed that production workers approved the pact by 51.3 percent, while skilled tradesmen supported it with a 52.4 percent vote.

General Motors said it is pleased the UAW ratified the agreement, calling it good for both workers and the company. In an interview with WFPL News on Friday, UAW Local 862 President Todd Dunn said a variety of issues contributed to the workers’ vote.

The UAW ratified contracts Friday with General Motors and the Ford Motor Company. The extension also created tension in a few plants between production workers, who approved the deal, and skilled trades workers. Veteran workers will receive 3 percent pay increases in the first and third year of the accord, and 4 percent lump-sum payments in the second and fourth years. Ratification was delayed in part as the skilled trades workers, about 8,500 employees in all, of the automaker had rejected the deal.

The details of the Ford contract were not immediately disclosed, but it was expected to be similar to contracts ratified earlier by General Motors and Fiat Chrysler.

“The voice of the majority has secured a strong future that will provide job security and economic stability for themselves and their families”, Williams said.

GM’s tentative agreement includes 1,300 new skilled trades placements, including at least 400 new apprentices, the first 200 of which would be added next year.

The ratification of the deal with Ford was announced later last night.

“We used to have 97 percent of the market and now we’ve got 47 percent, so it’s not like it was”, said Bernie Ricke, president of UAW Local 600, which represents workers at the F-150 plant in Dearborn.

“Following discussions with GM, the parties agreed to changes that protect core trades classifications and seniority rights”, the UAW said in a news release.

Almost 150,000 autoworkers are getting a raise.

The contract also guarantees $9 billion in investments at Ford’s US plants over four years.

Kristin Dziczek, director of the labor and industry group at the Center for Automotive Research, said the overall cost of the two FCA deals was virtually identical, but that the second agreement gave workers less job security in exchange for letting Tier 2 workers eventually earn more money.

The contract included bonuses of as much as $10,250 for each worker in 2015 and profit sharing annually as well as other types of bonuses annually following that.

The delay has led to a few tension between production and skilled trades workers, with a few production workers upset because they wanted their $8,000 ratification bonuses sooner. “Next time I’ll know to vote no. Obviously the yes vote doesn’t count until the higher pay grade says it does”.