A UAW local representative at Ford Motor Co.’s Dearborn Truck plant predicted today that 2,500 hourly workers in his bargaining unit would overwhelmingly approve a strike authorization as part of a two-day vote that wraps up tonight. Hit the jump to read the rest of the story.
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Gary Walkowicz, a committeeman for UAW Local 600, said workers leaving the polls and on the factory floor are heavily tending toward authorization. A final count of ballots could come as early as tonight, with delivery to the UAW International Wednesday, he said. Dearborn Truck makes Ford F-150 pickups.
Workers at Ford’s assembly plant near Kansas City, Mo., voted 3,049-18 to authorize a strike in voting that concluded Saturday. The Kansas City plant makes F-150s, and Escape and Escape Hybrid crossovers.
While such votes are considered a routine part of the negotiating process, Walkowicz said Ford rank-and-file workers are sending a message that they are ready to strike if the Ford/UAW contract talks fail to return “a substantial amount of concessions” made by workers in the 2007 contract and when it was reopened in 2009.
