The United Auto Workers and negotiators for Ford Motor Co., announced a tentative agreement on a new contract Wednesday.
The decision whether to accept the terms is now in the hands of some 56,000 rank-and-file UAW members who work for Ford. The deal would include historic salary increases and a path for workers at battery plants to join the union. It would also reinstate provisions the UAW gave up during past economic slowdowns.
The UAW’s National Ford Council — made up of local leaders — voted Sunday to send the agreement to members to vote on over the coming weeks. The deal, which came after a 41-day strike, would run through April 30, 2028. It includes $8.1 billion in investments, 26% compounded base wage hikes, cost-of-living adjustments, improved conditions for temporary workers and contributions to all forms of retirement plans.
UAW President Shawn Fain revealed the deal’s primary provisions in a Facebook Live presentation Sunday evening.
“I no longer see a union on defense, in decline or under threat,” Fain said during the Facebook Live update. “I see power. I see the future of the working class.”
The simultaneous “stand-up” strike against the Detroit Three was something the union had never done.
“It’s a home run for Shawn Fain for using the stand-up strike effectively and putting pressure on when the union needed it,” Art Wheaton, an automotive industry specialist at Cornell University’s Industrial and Labor Relations School who has performed training for the UAW, GM and Ford, told The Detroit News. “Realistically, I don’t know if anyone thought he could get what he got. The members may have wanted more, and he may have said he was trying to get more, but I think they got everything they could get.
Negotiations continued at General Motors Co. on Sunday as issues around pensions and temps held up a deal. The union’s strike against GM marked its 45th day on Sunday.
The Ford deal that would allow workers at future battery plants as well as a new electric vehicle complex in Tennessee to join the union and be included in the master agreement “at master agreement wages,” Fain said.
The union earlier this month announced GM had agreed to include its battery-plant workers in the master agreement after Ford CEO Jim Farley had accused the union of holding a deal “hostage” over the issue, The News reported. GM, though, has an Ultium Cells LLC battery plant with LG Energy Solution that is operating and has been unionized. Ford doesn’t have any plants operating, but has announced four, including a solely owned project in west Michigan’s Marshall; it paused construction there last month over whether it could operate the facility profitability, citing a “number of considerations.”
The agreement includes some $8.1 billion in product commitments and other plant investments, according to the UAW, including several new products. The assembly plant commitments include:
• Chicago Assembly, $400 million: Current Ford Explorer production will continue, including hybrid and police versions; Lincoln Aviator production will continue through its product lifecycle.
• Dearborn Truck and Rouge Electric Vehicle Center, $900 million: Ford F-150 will continue, including hybrid and Raptor models; F-150 Lightning production to continue through its product lifecycle; new EV truck will be added.
• Flat Rock Assembly, $50 million: Ford Mustang will continue; new product will be added, pending program approval.
• Kansas City Assembly, $1 billion: F-150 will continue, including hybrid and police versions; Ford Transit will continue; Transit EV will continue through its product lifecycle.
• Kentucky Truck, $750 million: Ford Super Duty will continue; Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator, including hybrids, will continue.
• Louisville Assembly, $1.2 billion: Ford Escape and Lincoln Corsair will continue through their planned product lifecycles; new EV product will be added.
• Michigan Assembly, $250 million: Current Ford Bronco will continue, including Raptor; Current Ford Ranger will continue, including Raptor; 3rd production crew to be added; stamping for Mustang, Bronco including Raptor, Ranger including Raptor, F-150, Expedition, Navigator, and Super Duty will continue; stamping for Escape and Corsair will continue through their planned lifecycle.
• Ohio Assembly, $2.1 billion: New EV van to be added; medium truck will continue; Super Duty will continue; E-Series Cutaway and Stripped Chassis will continue.
Wage increases in the deal total more than 26% (compounded) and would bring the top pay to $40.82 in October 2027. With COLA, that could be $42.60 per hour. The union estimates economic gains of $68,200 over the life of the contract for top-paid production workers. Upon ratification, the top production wage would increase to $35.58 per hour. That’s an 11% increase from the most common $32.05 per hour top wage at Ford. Starting full-time wages would rise to $24.91, up from $18.04. Workers then would receive 3% wage increases in October 2024, ’25 and ’26, and a 5% raise in October 2027, multipe media outlets reported.
