Over the past several weeks, the United Auto Workers (UAW) union has been working on negotiating a new contract with Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis, a process that admittedly hasn’t progressed very quickly, even as a September 14th deadline looms before a strike could occur. The UAW has revealed a list of demands including a 40+ percent pay increase, the end of tiered pay systems, a cap on temporary workers, the reintroduction of cost of living increases, and a four-day, 32-hour full-time work week, though Ford’s initial offer to the union didn’t quite come close to meeting these demands and drew the ire of UAW President Shawn Fain. However, according to Reuters, the union is preparing a counteroffer for Ford, lending some hope to the notion that a strike could be avoided, after all.
Thus far, Fain has been quite clear that he and the UAW are willing to strike if a deal isn’t reached by next week’s deadline, even going so far as to dismiss President Biden’s comments that he doesn’t feel like it will happen as “shocking,” and insinuating that Biden may know something that he doesn’t.
In the meantime, Ford – which is the only automaker of the Detroit Big Three to submit a contract proposal to the UAW thus far – is facing a pretty big divide between that offer and what the union wants. Ford is offering a nine percent general wage hike, along with additional health care benefits, an elimination of wage tiers, and more money for temporary workers.
Regardless, the two sides will apparently continue to work toward reaching a deal before next week’s deadline, even as both remain at a rather large impasse. As Ford Authority reported earlier today, The Blue Oval stands to potentially lose a considerable amount of profit either way, though ultimately, the financial impact it incurs will depend on the final, agreed-upon terms of this new contract – if one does get done on time.
We’ll have more on Ford’s contract negotiations with the UAW soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for 24/7 Ford news coverage.
Comments
No more concessions. Any agreement whether it take a strike of 3 months or more is worth it.
Honest days work for an honest days pay. most of us work 5 days a week, not 4. Also I hate to break it to you, no one is getting a 40% raise across the next 5 years without being a high performing individual. UAW is not locked in reality with the private sector.
I’m all for the UAW workers getting a raise. As long as it’s fair to both sides. Shawn Fain is delusional in his demands and threats. The dude negotiates like an immature twelve year old, constantly making threats and calling it a “war” and the company “the enemy”. What he conveniently never talks about is the fact that non-union OEMs (Toyota, Honda, TSLA, etc) have a large competitive advantage vs Ford on labor costs. They’ve been gaining market share for years vs Big 3. Fain says UAW workers can’t afford the products they make. Guess what, a fat raise will make them significantly more expensive. Customers are already balking at the high price of vehicles. The UAW needs to be reasonable and compromise, or Ford (and GM) are toast…
What people (jealous non union )don’t understand is car prices.Here’s what you can do really easy
1)See how much a f-150 sold for in 2018-19
2)See that they have went up 24-40% in sticker price
3)Understand that the average UAW line workers pay rose 6% from 2018-2023
4)Conclude that the CEOs and higher ups SALARY rose 20-45% during this time MEANING they’re the cause of the price hikes NOT the guy making 65k a year.
I guess if you cherry pick facts and ignore any contrasting information, you’re 100% correct!!!!
More money = more time for the lazy people to take off work, and that is 30% of Ford workers.
We want $800/hour, work 2 days every two weeks but paid for 14, and free pot in the break room. Oh and 7.5 hour paid breaks every 8 hour work day.
Wuuutt? Y do u go bankrupted????? Who culda seen dis comin??????
UAW, United Against Work
I would like to see the retired workers get a pay raise with this new contract. I haven’t had a raise since 2003. That’s when I retired from Ford. Contract come and go! Retired live with the same until you die.
The Billionaires won be happy until there are only two classes of people they want to eliminate middle class America.