The American automobile union United Auto Workers (UAW) announced on Wednesday October 25 that it had reached a “provisional agreement” with Ford, after forty-one days of strike at the manufacturer and its two major competitors in the United States, General Motors (GM) and Stellantis (Chrysler, Fiat, PSA). It includes a 25 percent increase in base pay, the UAW said, and must still be ratified by workers in a vote in the coming weeks.
Ford immediately confirmed the existence of this agreement. “We are focused on restarting the Kentucky Pickup Plant, the Michigan Assembly Plant and the Chicago Assembly Plant, getting 20,000 employees back to work and getting delivery of our full range to our customers,” Ford CEO Jim Farley said in a statement.
Shawn Fain, the president of the UAW union, for his part assured that he had “obtained things that no one thought possible”. “Since the strike began, Ford has put on the table 50% more than when we walked out. This agreement puts us on a new path to turn around the situation at Ford, at the “Big Three” [nickname given to the three historic manufacturers], and throughout the automobile industry,” he added.
Up to over $40 an hour
This is the first time the “Big Three” have been targeted at the same time. The strike, linked to the development of the next collective agreements, mobilized nearly 45,000 employees in total on Tuesday, out of the 146,000 registered at the UAW.
“The agreement provides for a 25% increase in base salary until April 2028,” explains the union in its press release. It will translate, in total, into an increase of more than 30% in the highest salary, or more than 40 dollars an hour, and an increase of 68% in the starting salary, to more than 28 dollars an hour. ‘hour. » “Ford’s lowest paid workers will benefit from a raise of more than 150% over the life of the agreement,” the UAW further notes.
American President Joe Biden welcomed this “historic” provisional agreement on Wednesday evening, the White House announced. “I applaud the UAW and Ford for coming to terms after difficult, good-faith negotiation,” he said in a statement.