Last fall, the United Auto Workers (UAW) union embarked on a targeted strike against Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis after the sides failed to reach an agreement prior to the expiration of their last master contract. However, after six weeks, Ford and the UAW reached a tentative agreement on a new contract that was ratified shortly thereafter. Regardless, there are still some unresolved issues at certain plants, it seems, which may soon lead to another union strike.
The UAW has announced that workers at the Tool & Die Unit at Ford’s River Rouge Complex will strike on Thursday, September 26th, if the two sides can’t come to terms of some local contract issues. The union notes that it’s been over a year since the contract deadline between the UAW Local 600 and FoMoCo’s Tool & Die Unit at the Rouge Complex has passed, as the sides have thus far failed to reach a new local agreement, which prompted UAW President Shawn Fain to authorize Vice President Chuck Browning to set a strike deadline.
According to the union, the Tool & Die Unit is seeking better job security, revamped rules in the workplace, and wage parity for skilled trades workers. In addition to the UAW’s national contracts – such as the aforementioned master contract agreement reached with Ford, GM, and Stellantis last year – union members also negotiate local agreements around plant-specific issues at each facility.
We saw this in action most recently at the Kentucky Truck plant – which builds the Ford Super Duty, Ford Expedition, and Lincoln Navigator – as workers at that facility also had some local issues that needed to be resolved last February as well. The UAW authorized workers in the UAW Local 862 to go on strike if it didn’t reach an agreement with FoMoCo by the end of that month, as workers had concerns related to health and safety-related matters, minimum in-plant nurse staffing levels, and ergonomic issues. However, an agreement was indeed reached prior to that deadline, preventing a strike from occurring.
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Meanwhile Ford is searching for significant cost savings in the EV Field to counter the Chinese threat. Looks like the BYD Chinese EV is going to win.
The tool and die unit is not an EV plant.
What’s wrong UAW? I thought you and Sean and Joe beat the Big 3. You mean that EV mandate isn’t an what you thought it would be? Funny, that never happens with Democrats. I mean being lied to.