Ford workers narrowly approve new contract with UAW

United Auto Workers at Ford Motors, following an 11th hour push by union leadership, narrowly approved a new contract putting in place the third and final labor agreement between Detroit’s “Big Three” and the autoworkers union.

Ford’s union workers in Louisville rejected the contract by a more than 60 percent margin earlier this week. Roughly 51.3 percent of production workers voted for the deal, while 52.4 percent skilled trades said “yes”.

UAW Ford vice president Jimmy Settles added, “There is no higher authority than the membership”.

“This agreement provides a good foundation for Ford Motor Company, our employees and our communities as we work together to create an even stronger business in the years ahead”, Ford’s labor chief, John Fleming, said in a statement.

Formal notification to GM has been delayed because skilled trades workers – the electricians, pipe fitters, millwrights and die makers who perform maintenance and other tasks beyond the training of production workers – rejected the deal by a 59.5% majority.

“Based on how most the U.A.W.-G.M. membership concerns about shielding the core trades categorizations and seniority rights have now been fulfilled, the worldwide Executive Board took action to officially ratify the U.A.W.-G.M. national understanding”, the U.A.W. said in a statement.

UAW leaders have been meeting with the holdouts since then, and on Friday the leaders said they had made a decision to declare the contract ratified – a move that is allowed under the union’s rues. “UAW-Ford members have delivered job security and strong economic gains for their families and communities”.

A rejection can be overridden by the union by skilled trades workers, but it cannot shift contract elements that apply to any or all members.

FCA workers turned down the first tentative agreement reached with that company, before approving a deal that went further toward eliminating the two-tier wage scale.

The deal also would, over eight years, close a pay gap between veteran workers and those hired since 2007, who were paid at a significantly lower pay scale. They were first to negotiate this time around.

The Ford deal, the richest of the three contracts, promises $9 billion in factory upgrades and expansions that created or preserved 8,500 jobs in the U.S.

Earlier on Friday, the UAW announced that it had finally ratified a new labor agreement with GM, covering more than 52,000 workers.

“There was a lot of pressure for more raises and to get rid of the second tier even faster”, said Kristin Dziczek, director of the labor and industry group at the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Workers would received $10,000 bonuses, and retirees would get $1,000 total over the course of the four-year pact.