UAW-represented workers at Ford Motor Co. have ratified a new four-year contract with the automaker. Hit the jump to read the rest of the story.
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Members voted 63 percent in favor of the contract, the UAW said in a statement today. Early results from the vote showed some opposition to the contract, but later voting was strongly in favor, particularly after UAW leaders said they would consider striking Ford if voters didn’t approve the deal.
The UAW said 22,031 member voted in favor while 12,957 were opposed. The 34,988 total votes amounted to an 85 percent turnout among eligible voters, the union said. The union originally said in its statement that those votes were for production workers, but a spokeswoman later said the figure also included skilled trades.
The contract contains a $6,000 signing bonus and other lump-sum payments. But Ford was able to prevent an increase in its fixed labor costs, including pay raises for traditional workers or restoration of cost-of-living allowances lost during concessions in 2009.
Ford executives plan to address the financial community Thursday morning to discuss the impact of the contract on the company’s business.
“I believe UAW Ford workers understood the importance of each and every vote,” UAW Vice President Jimmy Settles, the head of the union’s Ford department, said in the statement.
“That was evident in the high voter turnout with 85 percent of the overall membership voting, and at locals like Kansas City, where more than 80 percent of members voted and more than 90 percent of those voted in favor of the agreement.”
UAW President Bob King has said the agreement will increase Ford’s overall U.S. hourly labor costs by just 1 percent in each of the next four years.
The same is true of a new UAW contract at General Motors for 48,000 workers and one awaiting ratification by Chrysler’s 23,000 hourly workers.
About 65 percent of GM workers voted to ratify an agreement with the automaker last month.
Chrysler’s 23,000 UAW workers are voting on a tentative agreement with the automaker and the results are expected by the end of the month.
The Ford deal, which includes the creation of 5,750 new jobs, is the most generous of the new labor agreements negotiated with Detroit automakers.
