After 41 days, the UAW reached a tentative agreement with Ford Wednesday.
While union members have yet to ratify the deal, it appears the United Auto Workers (UAW)’s strike against Ford Motor Company may officially reach an end in the next 1-2 weeks. UAW president Shawn Fain and vice president Chuck Browning detailed the proceedings in a video and statement Wednesday evening.
“For months, we’ve said that record profits mean record contracts. And UAW family, our Stand Up Strike has delivered,” Fain said. “We won things nobody thought possible. Since the strike began, Ford put 50% more on the table than when we walked out. This agreement sets us on a new path to make things right at Ford, at the Big Three, and across the auto industry. Together, we are turning the tide for the working class in this country.”
Ford’s 57,000 UAW members will return to work while the agreement goes through the ratification process, in which the majority will need to approve the terms to finalize the deal.
To that end, these are the tentative terms the UAW reached with Ford:
- 25% increase in base wages through April 2028
- Top wages will cumulatively rise by 30% to $40/hour-plus
- The starting wage will increase by 68%, to over $28/hour
- Ford’s lowest paid workers will saw a 150% increase over the term of the contract, with some workers getting an immediate 85% bump immediately upon ratification
- Cost-of-living adjustments reinstated
- Three-year wage progression
- Wage tiers eliminated
- Improved retirement benefits for current retirees (including pensions), as well as those who have 401(k) plans
Ford CEO and president Jim Farley said of the breakthrough: “We are pleased to have reached a tentative agreement on a new labor contract with the UAW covering our U.S. operations. We are focused on restarting Kentucky Truck Plant, Michigan Assembly Plant and Chicago Assembly Plant, calling 20,000 Ford employees back to work and shipping our full lineup to our customers again.”
The focus moving forward will be on General Motors and Stellantis, which both saw major setbacks last week as the UAW struck profitable truck and SUV manufacturing facilities.
