UAW-Ford deal includes $8.1 billion investment and $5,000 endorsement bonus

DETROIT — Local United Auto Workers union leaders approved a tentative agreement Sunday with Ford Motor Co. that includes $8.1 billion in new plant investments by the company, $5,000 endorsement bonuses and other economic gains such as 25% compound wage increases and improved profit-sharing payments.

The tentative 4 1/2-year agreement, announced Wednesday, will now be circulated to UAW-Ford’s 57,000 members to attend regional information meetings and then vote, the union said Sunday. The UAW has not released a forecast on when voting will end, which typically takes a few weeks.

“We are sending you this contract because we know it breaks records. We know it will change people’s lives. But what happens next is up to all of you,” UAW President Sean Fine and UAW Vice President Chuck Browning said in a joint statement. In the deal summary.

UAW leaders outlined some details of the tentative agreement last week, but released the more than 800-page summary and contract Sunday after local union leaders approved it for a member vote.

The tentative agreement was reached after the union launched targeted strikes against Ford, General Motors and Stellantis – Chrysler’s parent company – when the two sides were unable to reach deals before a September 14 deadline.

The UAW announced a tentative deal Saturday with Stellantis, however, it has yet to reach a new agreement with GM, though the two sides came close to reaching an agreement last week.

The largest investments promised under the deal include $2.1 billion for Ohio Assembly for existing products and a new electric truck; $1.2 billion for new electric vehicle purchases at the Louisville, Kentucky, assembly that produces pickups and SUVs, including hybrid versions of the Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator; $1 billion in Kansas City Assembly; And $900 million to produce F-150 aircraft and a new electric truck.

The 25% increases include an 11% increase at ratification, followed by 3% increases over the next three years and then a 5% increase in October 2027. Increases and benefits such as the expected $8,800 cost of living adjustments raise the yield significantly. cumulative. Top wages to more than $40 per hour, including a 68% increase to starting wages to more than $28 per hour.

The UAW plans to use this record deal, as well as other deals with various companies, as a way to help its beleaguered regulatory efforts, including auto companies outside Detroit’s “Big Three” automakers, Fine said Sunday.

“One of our biggest goals from this historic contract win is to organize like we’ve never organized before,” Fine said Sunday. Broadcast online. He added: “When we return to the negotiating table in 2028, it will not only be with the Big Three, but with the Big Five or Big Six.”

The UAW said it also obtained easier jobs and organizing rights at upcoming battery plants and electric vehicle assembly plants, including a battery plant the automaker is building in Michigan.

The main change in the deal is its length from four years to four-and-a-half years, with the contract set to expire on April 30, 2028. Fine said the decision to change the length was to align the deadline with Labor Day, also called Labor Day. Labor Day or International Workers’ Day, on May 1.

Finn urged other unions to align their deadlines with that time period as well.

Other new benefits for members under the deal include three-year progression to the highest pay rates; Immediate conversion of temporary workers to permanent jobs after three months; enhancing profit sharing; Two weeks of paternity leave; and increasing 401(k) contributions, including a 10% company contribution that equates to about $11,000 annually for the highest-paid workers.

While the deal is considered a record, it fell short of some of the UAW’s initial goals including a 40% wage increase during the terms of the deal, a 32-hour workweek, traditional pensions for all workers and other benefits for retirees.