UAW and Ford Reach Tentative Contract Agreement

The United Auto Workers and Ford Motor Co. have reached a tentative agreement on a new four-year labor contract, the union announced Wednesday, nearly six weeks after the union began a growing wave of walkouts against the three Detroit automakers.

The union said the deal included a roughly 25% pay increase over four years, cost-of-living wage adjustments, major gains on pensions and job security, and the right to strike over plant closures. It called on striking Ford workers to go back to work while the tentative agreement awaits ratification.

Shawn Fain, the union president, said in a livestream on Facebook that the accord would be submitted to the UAW council that oversees relations with Ford at a meeting in Detroit on Sunday. If the council approves, the union will submit the contract terms to the company’s 57,000 union workers for their verdict.

“We made history,” Fain said. “We told Ford to pony up, and they did.” He said the terms included an immediate 11% wage increase upon ratification.

Ford issued a brief statement that said in part, “We are pleased to have reached a tentative agreement on a new labor contract with the UAW covering our U.S. operations.”

The union continues to negotiate with General Motors and Stellantis, whose brands include Chrysler, Jeep and Ram.

President Joe Biden, who had championed the union’s cause and joined a picket line on a visit to Michigan last month, hailed the accord. “I applaud the UAW and Ford for coming together after a hard-fought, good-faith negotiation and reaching a historic tentative agreement,” he said.

The union said the agreement would ultimately lift the top wage to more than $40 an hour, giving a member working 40 hours a week a base pay of more than $83,000, not including overtime and profit-sharing bonuses, which were more than $14,000 in 2022.

The tentative deal with Ford could increase pressure on the other companies to reach an agreement with the union. In the past, once the union reached a deal with one automaker, tentative agreements with the others quickly followed. But that history may not be as relevant now because the UAW had never struck all three companies simultaneously until this year.

Altogether, about 45,000 workers at Ford, GM and Stellantis are on strike across the country.

This article originally appeared in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/25/business/economy/uaw-ford-contract-agreement-strike.html">The New York Times</a>.