Photo: Junfu Han ~ USA TODAY NETWORK
DEARBORN, October 25, 2023 ~ The UAW and Ford Motor Co. have reached a tentative agreement in the union’s unprecedented 41-day strike against the big three Detroit‘s Big Three automakers.
The announcement was made Wednesday evening by UAW President Shawn Fain and UAW Vice President Chuck Browning in a video posted to Facebook.
“Our Stand Up Strike has delivered,” Fain said in the video. “What started at three plants at midnight on Sept. 15 has become a national movement. We knew we were getting close, but we also knew the companies needed a major push if we were going to make sure we got every penny possible in this agreement.
“So, we took our strike to a new phase and hit the companies with maximum effect.“
PODCAST:
October 25, 2023 ~ Paul Eisenstein, senior contributing editor for Headlight News, talks to Guy Gordon, Lloyd Jackson, and Jamie Edmonds about the UAW‘s tentative agreement with Ford Motor Co. that includes a 25% general wage increase.
(CONTINUED) Fain added that the union shutting down Stellantis‘ Sterling Heights Assembly and General Motors‘ Arlington Assembly, the companies’ most profitable plants, earlier this week let Ford know “what was coming to them” if a deal was not reached by Wednesday.
The tentative deal includes a 25% general wage increase over the life of the four-year contract, with an immediate 11% increase. The deal would also include a top wage rate increase to over $40 an hour, raising the starting wage to more than $28 an hour, a 150% wage increase for temp employees over the life of a contract, reinstatement of cost-of-living allowances (COLA), ending wage tiers for workers, and improved retirement benefits to current and future retirees.
“We are pleased to have reached a tentative agreement on a new labor contract with the UAW covering our U.S. operations,” said Ford President and CEO Jim Farley in a statement released Wednesday evening.
“Ford is proud to assemble the most vehicles in America and employ the most hourly autoworkers. We are focused on restarting the Kentucky Truck Plant, Michigan Assembly Plant, and Chicago Assembly Plant, calling 20,000 Ford employees back to work and shipping our full lineup to our customers again.”
Observers speculate that this agreement will help speed resolutions at the GM and Stellantis bargaining tables.
SOCIAL MEDIA:
October 25, 2023 ~ UAW President Shawn Fain addresses the UAW membership to announce that a tentative contract agreement has been reached with Ford Motor Co.
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