The Ford agreement follows the GM model for steps and time. The company announced the closure of the Romeo Engine plant in Michigan, which employs 600 people, after ratification. Chris Budnick, an employee at The Ford Truck Plant in Louisville, wants to take a closer look at the details of the agreement before making a decision. He was pleased, however, that health care had been maintained. He is concerned about how temporary workers are able to work full-time. The announcement late Wednesday that negotiators from Ford Motor and United Auto Workers have signed a four-year interim contract means that more than 12,000 Louisville employees will have a chance to vote on the deal soon. While improving the contract is good for rising workers because it puts these people at the top of the pay scale faster, the debate over the preliminary agreement is deep and complicated, said Kurt Kromm, an electrician at Kentucky Truck in Louisville and a member of UAW Local 862. Like the GM agreement, a $60,000 retirement incentive is available to all production employees and up to 200 skilled workers who retire under the normal and pre-retirement provisions of the agreement. The agreement is expected to take one to two weeks and is expected to take place within two weeks. Ford and UAW negotiators reached an interim agreement on Wednesday after three days of talks on the basis of the model agreement. The company would contribute US$1,000 to the retirement plans of production employees hired before November 19, 2007 and artisans hired before October 24, 2011. In 2019 and 2021, skilled craftsmen would also receive a lump sum of $1,000 for use to tools.
One way or another, it has been put out of contract the highlights of the United Auto Workers prepared for members: the new preliminary agreement with Ford will allow the company to use new technologies to take studies of time and movement to a whole new level. Local UAW politicians voted on Friday to send the agreement to their more than 55,000 members for ratification. Voting will begin on Monday and the vote will take place on 15 November. At Ford, “language says in agreement that technology is not the only basis for disciplinary action – meaning it is at least partly used to discipline workers,” Houldieson said. The UAW National Ford Council voted Friday to recommend ratification of a preliminary agreement with Ford Motor Co. after three hours of review and discussion. The preliminary agreement adopted by UAW leaders on November 1 provides for $6 billion in investments and promises to create or maintain 8,500 jobs. While GM employees received a $11,000 signing bonus, Ford will offer $9,000 to full-time workers at ratification. The UAW summary listed the total value of economic benefits over the duration of the four-year contract – including wages and bonuses – at $29,500 for the typical production worker and $32,500 for the typical skilled worker.
Bill Dirksen, Vice President of Laboratory Affairs at Ford, said in a statement Friday only that “Ford can confirm the UAW announcement that UAW and Ford have reached a preliminary agreement on a four-year contract. More details will be released at a later date. Brian Rothenberg, spokesman for the UAW, reacted to this article: “There will be no pilot project without the agreement of the local union that wants to participate. It cannot be used as the main reason for discipline. Contract negotiators from Ford Motor Co. and UAW have rewrote a passage from their preliminary agreement – while members vote on the deal – that will increase the wages of nearly 10,000 workers to ensure ratification. Todd Dunn, president of UAW Local 862 in Louisville, represents workers at the Kentucky Truck Plant and the Louisville Assembly.