Alert – UAW and Ford reach ‘tentative’ deal in breakthrough towards ending the union’s almost six-week strike against Detroit’s Big Three automakers

The United Auto Workers union has reached a tentative new contract agreement with Ford – the first step towards ending a nearly six-week strike.

The four-year deal that includes a 25 percent general wage increase still has to be approved by 57,000 union members, but it could conclude the union’s historic series of strikes at factories run by Ford, General Motors and Jeep maker Stellantis.

‘We told Ford to pony up, and they did,’ President Shawn Fain said in a video address to members. ‘We won things no one thought possible.’

Wednesday marked 41 days since the strike began, making it the longest American auto strike in 25 years.

General Motors and Stellantis are still working with the union to reach an agreement. 

Fain said that Ford put 50 percent more money on the table than it did before the strike began over one month ago.

UAW Vice President Chuck Browning added that workers will get a 25 percent general wage increase, plus cost of living raises that will put the pay increase over 30 percent, to above $40 per hour for top-scale assembly plant workers by the end of the contract.

The automaker restored the pre-2009 cost of living adjustment and agreed to a three-year wage progression while removing wage tiers. 

Ford, Stellantis and General Motors previously offered 23 percent pay increases. When negotiations began, Ford offered only 9 percent.

Browning said assembly workers will get 11 percent upon ratification, almost equal to all of the wage increases workers have seen since 2007.

Temporary workers will get a bigger 150 percent raise – more than they have received over the past 22 years combined. 

Some workers at Ford’s Sterling Axle and Rawsonville plants will see an 85 percent pay jump. Staff with pensions also will see a rise when they retire, and those hired after 2007 with 401(k) plans will get large increases.

For the first time, the union will have the right to go on strike over company plans to close factories, Browning said.

‘That means they can’t keep devastating our communities and closing plants with no consequences,’ he explained. ‘Together we have made history.’

He described the settlement as ‘the most lucrative agreement per member since Walter Reuther was president.’ Reuther led the union from 1946 until his death in 1970. 

In a statement, General Motors said it is ‘working constructively’ with the union to reach an agreement as soon as possible.

Stellantis echoed the sentiment, adding that it is committed to hammering out a deal ‘that gets everyone back to work as soon as possible.’

The union’s national leadership council plans to travel to Detroit on Sunday, where they will receive a presentation about the agreement and vote on whether to recommend it to members.

That evening, the union will host Facebook Live preceding regional meetings to explain the deal to members.

While on the picket line at Ford’s Michigan Assembly Plant Wednesday night, local union leaders invited workers to the union hall for a briefing on the deal.

Among them was Keith Jurgelewicz, who described the ordeal as an ’emotional time.’ He appeared on the picket lines for all of his shifts.

‘But just super excited that this is over with,’ Jurgelewicz said. ‘I just can’t wait to get back to work and just get on with my life.’

President Joe Biden – who visited picketers early in the strikes – praised the agreement.

‘I’ve always believed the middle class built America and unions built the middle class,’ Biden said in a statement.

‘This tentative agreement is a testament to the power of employers and employees coming together to work out their differences at the bargaining table in a manner that helps businesses succeed while helping workers secure pay and benefits they can raise a family on.’

Ford said it would focus on restarting the Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville as well as the Chicago Assembly Plant, welcoming back 20,000 workers.

The Louisville plant alone employs 8,700 workers and makes larger versions of Ford’s most profitable vehicle, the F150, as well as the Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator – responsible for about $25 billion in annual revenue.

Union members can finally breathe a sigh of relief since negotiations began in mid-July, nearly one month before contracts were set to expire.

The organization launched a targeted strike against Ford, General Motors and Stellantis on September 15. 

It called for 40 percent wage increases, a 32-hour workweek and better retirement benefits, among other demands.

As the UAW failed to reach an agreement with automakers, what followed was a series of layoffs.

Stellantis laid off 368 workers at the Toledo Machining Plant in Ohio and the Kokomo Transmission and Kokomo Casting facilities in Indiana. 

General Motors laid off about 2,000 workers in Fairfax, Kansas, while Ford laid off 600 non-striking workers at Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne shortly after the strike began.

Protestors were joined by Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders.

On September 27, former President Donald Trump even made an appearance when he gave a speech at Drake Enterprises, a non-unionized auto supplier in Macomb County.

In an attempt to garner support for his 2024 presidential campaign, Trump decried Biden’s push for electric vehicles.

‘You’re all on the picket lines and everything, but it doesn’t make a damn bit of difference what you get, because in two years you’re all going to be out of business,’ Trump said.

The protest continued to spread as the strike expanded to distribution centers and the highly profitable Louisville plant, where just under 9,000 employees walked off the job on October 11.

A day later, a Ford executive said the company – which had offered 20 percent raises and more vacation time – had ‘reached its limit.’

The strike saw some 30,000 members picketing at 44 facilities across the country.