UAW, Ford reach tentative agreement

The United Auto Workers union halted its strike against Ford, having reached a tentative agreement with the auto maker, one that—if ratified—would include immediate 11-percent pay increases for union members.

Under the tentative deal, UAW employees at Ford are poised to receive more general wage increases in the next four years than they have received in the last 20 years combined, according to UAW-Ford Vice President Chuck Browning.

Under the deal, top UAW wage rates would increase by more than 30 percent to around $40 per hour. Starting wages will increase by 68 percent to $28 per hour, and temporary workers will receive increases of more than 150 percent.

“Between wage increases, COLA, annual bonuses to retirees and other economic gains, there is more value to our members in each individual year of this agreement than the entirety of the 2019 agreement,” Browning said in a video posted to social media Oct. 25. “This deal puts more money on the table than the 2019 agreement four times over.”

The deal must be ratified by the union’s 57,000 members at Ford.

UAW President Shawn Fain said the union would distribute detailed materials to members Oct. 29.

Ford, in a statement, said it was pleased to have reached a tentative agreement with the union.

"Ford is proud to assemble the most vehicles in America and employ the most hourly auto workers,” the auto maker said in a statement. “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 strike, which has lasted more than 40 days—longer than the UAW's 2019 work stoppage against General Motors—hit Ford hardest. Roughly 16,600 UAW members were on strike at Ford, more than at GM and Stellantis. And Ford has been forced to lay off more workers than the other auto makers.

GM on Oct. 24 said the strike had cost it $800 million so far. Deutsche Bank has estimated the strike has cost Ford $888 million so far.

Ford on Oct. 3 offered the UAW raises totaling 23 percent, with workers getting a double-digit increase upon ratification and annual increases through 2027.

About a week later, the union ordered 8,700 workers at Ford’s Kentucky Truck Plant, the company’s most profitable assembly operation, to walk off the job. Kumar Galhotra, Ford’s chief operating officer, told reporters in subsequent days that the company had “reached our limit” on what it could offer the union without compromising its ability to remain competitive.

Ford Executive Chair Bill Ford told The New York Times that the auto maker "could live with the deal we have proposed, but just barely."

Michael Martinez, Automotive News, contributed to this report