UAW And Ford Officially Kick Off 2015 Labor Negotiations

The United Auto Workers viewed it as a hardball tactic in advance of contract talks.

“We are not going to leave members behind”, said Williams. “We really need to look into how do most of the people best increase success of this very company”. He said be believes his areas of concern were well taken.

Why did Ford broadcast they’re proceeding development of one of these most innovative merchandising styles, the Focus, to effectively Mexico?

Amid speculation that the plant that is responsible for the Ford Focus is in jeopardy of being closed, Ford Executive Vice President John Fleming addressed all speculation. “The decisions we make will impact families and communities across Michigan and set the tone for our state’s middle class economy for years to come”. “But right now, we are looking at what products are the right products”.

Ford chief executive officer Mark Fields said the carmaker seeks a “fair and competitive labor agreement for both sides”, an attitude that was echoed by Williams and the union’s main Ford negotiator, Jimmy Settles.

“We don’t just build cars”. In a speech last month, he said he would impose a 35% tax on imported Ford vehicles from Mexico, a claim that appears less pragmatic, given how it would violate an global trade agreement (NAFTA) involving Mexico and the US.

FCA is the least able to sustain a strike of the Detroit Three, but Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne warns that the next contract needs to be sustainable in bad times as well as good times. He suggested that keeping wages low will be key to keeping those jobs in the country.

Ford, GM and Fiat Chrysler are thriving today compared with during the recession when it almost went bankrupt. “And we will be reminding them of that (during negotiations.)”. The move will affect about 4,000 workers at the plant, if Ford executes the plan. In the four years in between however, the company added over 15,000 jobs and invested more than $6.2 billion in its American plants, according to a Detroit Free Press story.

That’s a lot less than the workers hired before 2007 who earn $28 per hour.