The United Auto Workers (UAW) union reached a tentative agreement with Ford on Wednesday, moving forward a 41-day standstill at the Detroit Big Three car manufacturers.
The UAW reported the agreement, which rank-and-file workers must still approve by vote, included a 25 per cent wage increase for hourly employees. UAW President Shawn Fain stated:
For months we’ve said that record profits mean record contracts. And UAW family, our Stand Up Strike has delivered.
In addition to wage increases, workers are also demanding guaranteed cost-of-living adjustments; the elimination of different pay levels or “tiers” that disadvantage junior staff; as well as the right to strike over plant closures.
Ford confirmed the UAW’s announcement of the agreement, adding that the company is “pleased to have reached a tentative agreement on a new labour contract with the UAW covering our US operations.” President Joe Biden also welcomed the “historic accord.”
I applaud the UAW and Ford for coming together after a hard fought, good faith negotiation and reaching a historic tentative agreement tonight.
Biden made history in September as the first US president to picket supporting the UAW strike.
The wage increase in the tentative agreement is below the 40 per cent wage increase Fain has been seeking since the strike began on September 15, but it is still well above the nine per cent increase originally proposed by Ford in August.
This agreement sets us on a new path to make things right at Ford, at the Big Three, and across the auto industry. We’re going to let that democratic process take its course.
Mack Trucks workers rejected a tentative agreement reached by UAW negotiators and voted to strike earlier this month.
The strike initially involved three plants, with only 12,700 workers walking out, but the union gradually expanded the action in following weeks, seeking a better deal.
The UAW employs about 146,000 auto workers in the US, 45,000 of whom were on strike before the Ford deal. In just the past two days, the UAW has intensified its strike at both Stellantis and GM, disrupting key plants in Michigan and Texas.
Both GM and Stellantis are now offering wage increases of 23 per cent. However, the UAW stated that Ford workers would return to their shifts to put pressure on GM and Stellantis.
UAW Vice President Chuck Browning argues that getting Ford back on track is the last thing the lagging GM and Stellantis want.
This is a strategic move to get the best deal possible.
