UAW strike day 19: Ford makes new offer. Here's what it includes
Ford Motor Co. made its seventh, and what it called its "strongest," offer Tuesday to the United Auto Workers amid ongoing contract negotiations and a strike.
The Dearborn automaker said in a news release Tuesday it had made a "comprehensive" offer to the union Monday night "in an effort to reach a tentative agreement" on a new contract.
The company's current offer includes product commitments for every UAW-represented plant in the United States, profit-sharing that would be available to temporary employees for the first time, a ratification bonus that temporary employees would be eligible to receive for the first time, an increase in starting pay for temporary workers to $21 per hour, conversion upon ratification of all temporary workers with at least three months of continuous service and a wage increase of "more than 20%."
It also includes the restoration of cost-of-living allowances, the elimination of wage tiers that currently have workers at components plants on different wage scales than assembly plant workers, reducing by "more than half" the time it takes workers to reach the top of the wage scale, increased 401(k) contributions, income protection for all permanent employees, and more time off, including up to five weeks of vacation, an "average" of 17 paid holidays, and two "family days."
Some of those items already had been offered by the company.
“There’s no doubt our UAW workforce put us on their shoulders during the pandemic, and these same workers and their families were hit hard by inflation. We want to make sure our workers come out of these negotiations with two things — a record contract and a strong future,” Ford CEO Jim Farley said in a statement. “We’ve put an offer on the table that will be costly for the company, especially given our large American footprint and UAW workforce, but one that we believe still allows Ford to invest in the future.”
The UAW declined to comment.
Details of the union's most recent offers to the companies have not been detailed publicly, but at least one area where there appears to be continued disagreement is on a tier structure. The UAW has sought to entirely eliminate the years-long progression to the top of the wage scale, for example; so far, the companies have agreed to cut that period down to around four years. The union also is seeking defined-benefit pension plans for all workers and initially had sought wage increases of 46% including compounding.
Meanwhile, Ford claims the union is taking "a hard line" on electric-vehicle battery plants, with Farley on Friday accusing the UAW of "holding the deal hostage" over the matter.
"While Ford remains open to the possibility of working with the UAW on future battery plants in the United States, these are multi-billion-dollar investments and must operate at competitive and sustainable levels," the company said in a news release Tuesday.
Ford is building four battery plants in the United States: three that would be joint-venture operations with battery maker SK On in Tennessee and Kentucky, and another in Marshall that would be run by a wholly-owned Ford subsidiary. The company has noted that the plants are not yet in operation and do not yet have workforces, with Farley suggesting that the next round of contract talks would be the time to talk about them.
The company's release indicated that the contract it's negotiating now would expire April 30, 2028.
"The future employees at these operations can choose to be union represented and enter into the collective bargaining process," the company said Tuesday. "As Ford has made clear, none of our employees, including powertrain employees, will lose their jobs due to our battery plants during this contract period. In fact, for the foreseeable future, we will have to hire more workers as some workers retire, in order to keep up with demand for our ICE products."
UAW President Shawn Fain, in a statement responding to Farley's comments Friday, accused the CEO of "lying about the state of negotiations," saying that the two sides "are far apart on core economic proposals like retirement security and post-retirement healthcare, as well as job security in this EV transition, which Farley himself says is going to cut 40 percent of our members’ jobs."
Meanwhile, more General Motors Co. employees have been laid off as a result of the strike.
GM said Tuesday, day 19 of the unprecedented strike against the Detroit Three, an additional 163 workers are out of work at GM’s Toledo Propulsion Systems facility after the union on Friday expanded its strike to include the Lansing Delta Township plant where the Chevrolet Traverse and Buick Enclave SUVs are built. Toledo makes transmissions for Lansing Delta and the Wentzville, Missouri, midsize truck plant — the first GM plant the union targeted with a strike Sept. 15.
The additional layoffs announced Tuesday come after the union provided a counteroffer to GM on Monday and after the union on Friday expanded its strike to a total of 25,300 members. Details of the offer haven't been released but GM said Monday that "significant gaps remain" between the two sides.
The union kicked off its targeted strike strategy on Sept. 15 with work stoppages at Ford's Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, GM's Wentzville Assembly plant and the Stellantis Jeep plant in Toledo. It then expanded to 38 GM and Stellantis parts distribution centers across the country Sept. 22. And on Friday, it expanded to the Delta Township site and Ford's Chicago Assembly plant.
The work stoppage at Chicago Assembly has resulted in 330 temporary layoffs of workers at Ford's Chicago Stamping Plant and Lima Engine Plant in Ohio, Ford said Monday. The layoffs at Chicago Stamping went into effect Friday; those at Lima Engine went into effect Monday.
As a result of the Wentzville strike, 138 Toledo employees were laid off. GM said another 57 employees who support the affected departments were also out of work, bringing the total affected employees to 358. Toledo Propulsion Systems employs nearly 1,400 represented workers.
GM's Fairfax Assembly plant has also been idled in the strike since Wentzville supplies parts to the Chevrolet Malibu sedan and Cadillac XT4 SUV plant, affecting 1,585 employees. GM said 48 employees at Lockport Components plant in New York, 34 employees at its Marion Metal Center in Indiana and 130 at its Parma Metal Center in Ohio are also out of work as a result of the UAW strike. Overall, 2,100 nonstriking GM employees cannot work as a result of the walkouts, the automaker said.
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Staff Writer Breana Noble contributed.