Ford Rival Nissan Raises Wages After UAW Contract Ratified

Following a roughly six-week-long targeted strike against Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis, the United Auto Workers (UAW) reached a tentative agreement with The Blue Oval in late October, one that includes a substantial investment in products and production facilities on the automaker’s part. Just a few days later, the UAW reached deals with GM and Stellantis as well, effectively ending the strike, and those agreements have since been ratified, making them official. However, UAW President Shawn Fain has made it quite clear that he intends to do whatever he deems necessary to organize non-union plants in the U.S. owned by companies like Toyota, Honda, and Tesla, which recently prompted Toyota to give its workers a raise, which Honda emulated just a few days later, as well as Hyundai. Now, another Ford rival – Nissan – has followed suit, according to Reuters.

Nissan has announced that it will raise wages by 10 percent for its U.S.-based factory workforce in January, which will pertain to production technicians, maintenance workers, and tool & die technicians. Workers that aren’t yet at the top of the wage scale will also receive a boost, meaning that around 9,000 Nissan employees are set to receive a raise in the coming weeks. By comparison, the new deal between the Detroit Big Three automakers and the UAW will result in pay raises of 25 percent between now and 2028, with Ford’s top wage set to increase from $32.05 to $35.58 per hour.

In addition to these moves, Nissan announced that it will be ending wage tiers – a sticking point in UAW negotiations – noting that these moves are a reflection to its commitment to employees in the United States “and enhancing our competitiveness.”

Meanwhile, Honda will give its non-union workforce pay raises of up to 11 percent, which will take effect on January 8^th, 2024. The company also plans to shorten the length of time it takes for workers to reach top pay status. Toyota is giving its top paid non-union U.S. factory workers an increase of around nine percent starting the first of January 2024, will slash the amount of time workers must put in before reaching the top of the pay scale from eight years to four. In Kentucky, specifically, workers at the Toyota plant will be getting a raise of $2.94, taking wages up to $34.80 an hour.

We’ll have more on everything Ford’s competition is up to soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for the latest Ford-UAW news, UAW news, and 24/7 Ford news coverage.