UAW workers in Avon Lake narrowly approve proposed national contract with Ford

Workers at Ford Motor Co.’s Woodlawn stamping plant voted Sunday to reject a national tentative agreement between the United Auto Workers and the automaker. Volkswagen, which had earlier been the most supportive of the UAW among foreign automakers with US plants, fought the petition by the UAW for a vote of 165 skilled trades workers at the plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee. If ratified, the agreement promises $9 billion in investments to Ford’s US plants over four years, including $250 million at the Ohio Assembly Plant.

Gary Casteel, the secretary-treasurer of the UAW, criticized Volkswagen for trying to block the vote by skilled-trades workers.

Bernie Ricke, the president of UAW Local 600, which represents several thousand workers in Ford’s hometown of Dearborn, Mich., said workers should not think that if they reject this agreement, Ford will offer better terms.

From the two major plants, 65.5 percent voted against the contract, a UAW official told Reuters. Fiat Chrysler workers ratified a contract.

Featured image from Google Maps. Under German law, half of the seats on supervisory boards are held by worker representatives, while the other half is made up of management and stakeholders.

Williams said in the press release that “the majority of the entire UAW-GM membership voted in favor of the tentative agreement by a 55.4 percent to 44.6 percent margin”. Normally, the UAW does not like to talk to the media while workers are voting on a national contract. Entry level workers who are making between $15.78 and $19.28 per hour now would see their wages raised immediately to $17 to $22.50 and would then progress up to about $29 per hour over an eight-year period.

The two major plants are located in Kentucky and voting ends Thursday with a few more plants yet to cast their votes.

Settles reiterated this threat after a reporter reminded him of his statements in 2011, when he said that if the contract was rejected the UAW worldwide would authorize a strike and Ford might hire replacement workers. “We are working everyday to get this ratified”. The company said the contract also provides for “new products” to be made at the Avon Lake plant, though the nature of the products was not revealed.

Both Ford and union leadership are backing the contract proposal. While the two-tier wage system doesn’t affect him, Davis said he’s glad it’s being phased out because it created tension between new workers and longtime employees.

Kristin Dziczek, labor analyst at the Center for Automotive Research, said Ford is not likely to spend more money on a richer contract overall if the two sides return to the bargaining table.

However, worker Roger Davis, a quality operating coordinator hired in 1969, said he supported the contract.

The 162 skilled-trades workers make up about 12 per cent of the roughly 1,400 hourly employees at the Chattanooga plant.