CHICAGO, Oct 4 (NNN-XINHUA) – Ford Motor Company, yesterday made its seventh offer to the United Auto Workers (UAW), amid ongoing contract negotiations, as the auto strike against the Big Three U.S. automakers enters the 19th day.
The “strongest” and “comprehensive” offer Ford made to the UAW Monday night 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 U.S. dollars 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 percent.
The offer also includes items Ford had already offered: the restoration of cost-of-living allowances, the elimination of wage tiers, reducing by “more than half” the time it takes workers to reach the top of the wage scale, and more time off, including up to five weeks of vacation, an “average” of 17 paid holidays, and two “family days.”
“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,” The Detroit News quoted Ford CEO, Jim Farley, as saying in a statement yesterday.
“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,” he added.
The UAW declined to comment.
Ford also accused the UAW of taking “a hard line” on electric vehicle battery plants. “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 Dearborn-based automaker said, in the news release yesterday.
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, Michigan, that would be a wholly-owned Ford subsidiary.
The automaker has noted that, the plants are not yet in operation and do not yet have workforces. The next round of contract talks would be the time to talk about them.
As the strike goes on, the Big Three automakers are laying off more workers.
An additional 163 workers are out of work at General Motor Co’s Toledo Propulsion Systems facility, after the union on Friday expanded its strike to include GM’s SUV plants, GM said.
The UAW provided a counteroffer to GM on Monday. Details of the offer haven’t been released, but GM said, Monday that, “significant gaps remain” between the two sides.
Ford announced a total of about 330 layoffs Monday at the Chicago Stamping Plant and the Lima Engine Plant in Ohio, after the UAW Friday expansion strike at its Chicago SUV assembly plant.
The UAW announced a strike at three select factories of Ford, GM, and Stellantis on Sept 14, after its contract with the Big Three expired. It spread the strike to 38 GM and Stellantis parts distribution centres around the country on Sept 22, following a lack of meaningful progress in new contract negotiations. It called on around 7,000 workers at two more GM and Ford SUV assembly plants to strike on Sept 29.
In all, about 25,300 out of some 146,000 Big Three U.S. automaker workers represented by the UAW are now on strike across the country.– NNN-XINHUA
