A six-week strike that has halted work at car factories in Chicago, Louisville and Wayne, Michigan, is set to end after Ford reached a tentative agreement with one of America’s biggest unions.
The deal represents a big win for the United Auto Workers union and includes a 25 per cent wage rise over the four-and-a-half-year contract, starting with an initial increase of 11 per cent. The union said the total pay increase was worth more than 30 per cent when compounding and cost of living mechanisms were factored in.
The strike has been the first national stoppage that Ford has faced since 1979 and the first against all of Detroit’s Big Three automakers simultaneously. This preliminary deal puts pressure on General Motors and Stellantis also to reach agreements with the union. General Motors said this week that the strike was costing it $300 million per week.
Shawn Fain, president of the union, said: “We won things nobody thought possible. Since the strike began, Ford put 50 per cent more on the table than when we walked out.”
In addition, Ford has agreed to allow workers to strike over any plant closures during the next contract, an increasing concern for workers as electric vehicles, which are less labour-intensive, become more popular.
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Ford said it was pleased to have reached an agreement.
Separately, Ford Motor Company last night withdrew its full-year results forecast due to the pending ratification of its deal sending the shares down 4.1 per cent to $10.89 in late trading. Ford’s rival General Motors has also withdrawn its 2023 profit outlook.
• Stellantis, the owner of Peugeot, Citroën, Fiat and Chrysler, is paying $1.6 billion for a 21 per cent stake in Leapmotor, which will give it exclusive rights to sell the Chinese electric carmaker’s vehicles outside China. A year ago Stellantis said that it was closing its joint venture with Guangzhou Automobile Group making Jeeps in China.
