UAW’s significant victory with Ford
United Auto Workers (UAW) President Shawn Fain heralded “a major victory” this week as union members reached a tentative agreement with Ford Motor, elevating most employees’ pay beyond $40 an hour.
This provisional accord is indeed a substantial triumph for autoworkers, as per union experts. The latest offer, unveiled on Wednesday, entails a 25% wage hike over a four-and-a-half-year contract term, reinstating cost-of-living adjustments and abolishing a two-tiered wage system at two of Ford’s facilities.
The proposed arrangement also abbreviates the period for new employees to be eligible to commence earning top wages. These specifics still await approval from UAW’s national council and its general membership.
Tentative Agreement with Ford Marks a Significant Win for UAW
“This is tentative and there are more steps to take, but I see this as a good win for the employees and definitely for Shawn Fain and his team,” remarked Lynne Vincent, a business management professor at Syracuse University.
The historic strike by UAW members kicked off last month when Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis employees vacated their positions at factories in Wayne, Michigan, Wentzville, Missouri, and Toledo, Ohio. The union initiated a so-called “stand up” strike involving strategic walkouts at three initial Big Three factories, which then broadened over four weeks, exerting more pressure on automakers to yield to union demands.
Though they didn’t achieve the 40% pay raise initially sought, and couldn’t get Ford to wholly discard the two-tier system, “they won on their three main demands,” stated Steven Greenhouse, from The Century Foundation. A 25% wage increment coupled with cost-of-living adjustments effectively grants UAW members at Ford a 33% raise.
“And by any measure, a 30% raise is a whole lot,” Greenhouse added.
The agreement with Ford signifies a victory for UAW leaders who managed to galvanize and motivate thousands of workers to leave their jobs, Greenhouse mentioned. In doing so, the union compelled Ford to nearly triple its initial 9% offer, Vincent noted.
Record profits mean record contracts. We have a tentative agreement at Ford. #StandUpUAW pic.twitter.com/Z00T5CfQJN
— UAW (@UAW) October 26, 2023
This marks the first step towards new long-term labor contracts with Detroit’s Big Three automakers since the preceding contract with Ford expired on September 14. This deal is anticipated to set a precedent for upcoming negotiations with General Motors and Stellantis.
The UAW-Ford pact also underscores the effectiveness of the untested stand-up strike strategy, as per Vincent.
Vincent further remarked that this deal is a larger leap for organized labor movements.
“The right to strike over plant closures — that’s also a great part of this deal because the (auto) industry is changing so much with different types of technology and globalization, so having that right provides more power and protection to the workers,” Vincent explained.
The success of UAW’s unique strike strategy should incentivize other unions to conceive new methods to nudge employers towards meeting worker demands, Vincent implied. Workers striving to unionize, especially at Amazon and Starbucks should dissect what transpired in Detroit to devise innovative ways to advance their own causes, she advised.
With information from CBS News
