This summer is a big deal for tens of thousands of hourly workers that work for the big Detroit automakers like Ford. UAW contract negotiations are set to start, and so far no one knows which of the big automakers – Ford, GM, or FCA – will go first. Scuttlebutt suggests that the first negotiations will happen with Ford.
Officials have made no decisions in the UAW contract negotiations yet, but industry and union sources indicate that the UAW relationship with Ford is the most stable and least contentious. Ford is reportedly viewed as a good-faith partner according to union negotiators.
That doesn’t mean that UAW contract negotiations with Ford will go smoothly. The negotiations are expected to be very aggressive with the union and Ford fighting over health-care costs, hourly wage increases, use of temporary workers, and reducing the 8-year grow-in period. The grow-in period is the time it takes a new UAW worker at a Ford plant to move from the lowest wages to the highest wages.
When it comes to UAW contract negotiations, going first can be a hard position to be in. An unnamed source from an automaker says that everyone wants to know who is going first. Going first allows the automakers to control their destiny, but it also puts a target on your back says the source.
A UAW member says that the workers think Ford will be the best deal. The most anger, according to that UAW member, is focused at GM. GM is closing plants while “making a ton of money.”
If Ford goes first, UAW leaders could use a deal reached with the automaker to establish a base that can be used to force other automakers into similar deals. If negotiations are unsuccessful, the 148,661 hourly workers that make up the union will consider striking against one or all of the automakers. That means that workers will need to figure out how to support families on the $250 weekly UAW strike wage.
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Source: Detroit Free Press
Comments
I dont understand, If there is 700 million in strike fund why 250 a week ? I think you pay full pay until its gone it gives rank and file a better position to win.lm thinking the UAW dont want you to get cozy. THEY WANT YOU TO STRUGGLE SO YOU WILL TAKE THE CRAPPY CONTRACT THATS COMING!
Its $250 because they also pay for your health care while you are on strike. The cost for UAW-Ford Members alone would cost 140 million per month for strike benefits. If all Ford, GM, and FCA Members were to strike at the same time, it would cost the strike fund over 300 million per month between the $250 payments and everyone’s insurance. Our strike fund would be depleted very quickly. No one wants a strike and no one wants anyone to struggle. These are facts.
They had better not mess with our benefits, like healthcare and profit sharing. The benefits are the only thing keeping people at ford because the pay is not that good anymore! Ford pays what everyone else pays and most jobs are nowhere near as hard as the auto industry.
Look at that fat uaw member shaking hands with ford. It’s all over. Uaw is done. The uaw has been done for a long time they just don’t realize it
@Polly, I would be completely ok with them lowering the profit sharing amt in return for higher hourly rate. Gov’t takes half of that profit sharing check anyways (close enough to anyways), and union gets their cut ontop of the gov’t, you’re lucky to take home 50% of what your reported profit sharing amount is.
It’s a matter of numbers. The uaw is done. Numbers dwindle every year. The uaw is a thing of the past.
How does that fat guy work on an assembly line? I’ve worked for ford and I can tell you. He couldn’t! That’s the problem with the uaw. Some people can work. Others can’t and wont that’s the problem with the uaw. They protect the ones that are dragging down the company. And the uaw never acknowledges anyone for hard work. Ford motor company does!
Uaw is done on numbers alone. And its completely the uaw’s fault! No one cared when one plant closed down. It’s the same across the USA. No one cared! Not the uaw and not ford. Local governments didn’t care, Now they are feeling the effects of not caring.
East side of indy perfect example! The uaw and government watched navistar and ford leave. Ford had been there since 1957. Indiana just watched them leave. Sad
When I hired in at ford , I started at 70 percent of legacy workers then got a raise every 6 months as long as I got the hours required for the raise ,, it took 5 years to get to full pay because of the lay offs we were in the middle of ,, and have been at 6 different plants just so I could keep working ,, people who dont work at the big 3 dont realize all that we have given up in the last 20 years ,, no more cost of living in our weekly pay no more overtime after 8 hrs ,, now its 10 hrs a day before overtime starts ,, this puts more wear on our body’s ,, the profit sharing has been re-strutted to pay us less of profit as it stands now the average legacy worker gave up 10,000 a year with all we have given back in just the last 10 years ,, to most that is there house pmt for a year ,,, so I ask how much more do we have to give just for the privilege of working at ford ,,, meanwhile when we need union support on the floor they have a hard time to rember our name let alone our concern … or when if or who is in charge of our concern
Very well said Sir. With only 10yrs at Chrysler I see that the plan is and always will be, scare tactics into dividing of UNION members, to control a narrative.. Does that make sense?
We all need to remember a few things that I feel most younger workers dont understand anymore.
Automotive industry, is most of the US economy.
We really should never give in anymore to the lies we are force fead on a daily and contractual basis.
Vehicles will always be a part of our lives, and Record profits are going to be achieved.
Just read how an EV is described by the Engineers.
They use words like, “easier to build” less materials needed, combustion is thoughts of past tech. Look, plastic is cheap, and easier to fabricate into anything needed for vehicles.
We must stay together and not be distracted by scare tactics. Millennials are on the job hunt, baby boomers are still working, this is the only thing they can legitimately push as a solid stance for low car sales.
Why is that?
Because, not only has the UAW been taking advantage of us, so has your Government.
If you have a middle class job, shouldn’t your life be the same way?
Baby boomers know what I speak of, inflation based on Lies and Bad business by our Governments is why BB are still at work, not giving up their job that a Millennial could apply for.
If we dont open our eyes to what’s going on around us, we will surely suffer the same fate year after year.
We as employees are willing to roll with the changes ,, as long as it dosent leave us unemployed or working harder for less ,, they currently have our line speed at 72 an hour ,, then get mad at us when items are missed because on top the increase in line speed they also add more items to our job ,,, we really do work hard ,, and gone now are the jobs an employee looked forward to once they got 20 yrs of service ,, machine maintenance janitor services or even our overflow of repair work is being farmed out to outside company’s to keep us under the 40 hr work wk they will run us 9.8 or even 9.9 hrs a day in order to keep us working harder for less ,, honestly I earned more when I was paid less per hr , because my pay included cost of living and overtime after 8 hrs which was about 200 dollars a week this adds up over the span of a yr ,,, and now they want more ,,, lets start with the 100 grand we have already given back in the last 10 yrs then go from there !!
Quite obviously the uaw is on a downhill path. No one can argue that. Many plants have been closed down. Where was the union when the big three were closing plants? Where was the state and local governments when they knew plants were slated to close. It’s sad that no one cares about the big three plants anymore. Meanwhile at least here in central indiana the state and local governments bend over backwards to get factories that pay 15 dollars an hour. They give tax abatements to new companies. Indianapolis never once tried to save uaw jobs that had been here for almost fifty years. Case in point, navistar, ford, GM, and Chrysler. All have left Indianapolis. The state and local governments never tried to save them. Neither did the uaw.