The workers of ford are preparing to return to work after the United Auto Workers (UAW) union reached a provisional labor agreement with the company late Wednesday.
ford has been the first of Detroit’s big three automakers to negotiate an agreement to end strikes in which 45,000 workers have participated since mid-September. The UAW will now focus its attention on talks with General Motors and Chrysler’s parent company, Stellantis.
The agreement, which must still be ratified by union members, includes a 25% wage increase over the four and a half years of the contract and the elimination of lower wage levels for workers in certain manufacturing operations. Ford parts.
“We still have to see some of the details, but it is a great achievement for the union”said Harley Shaiken, a professor of labor at the University of California Berkeley.
The agreement reverses concessions the union agreed to in a series of contracts since 2007, when GM and the former Chrysler were headed for bankruptcy and Ford mortgaged assets to stay afloat.
The companies are now collectively in a better position, although they have all stated that excessive wage increases would undermine their ability to compete in the coming years with lower-cost manufacturers such as Tesla, the leading seller of electric vehicles.
The agreement, which could serve as a model for agreements with GM and Stellantis, represents a total salary increase of more than 33% when capitalization mechanisms and the cost of living are taken into account, according to the UAW.
“We know it breaks records”Said Shawn Fain, president of the UAW, in a videotaped speech Wednesday night. “We know it will change lives. But what happens next depends on all of you”.
Source: Gestion
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