Ford workers ratify new contract that includes $9,000 bonuses
Ford workers voted to ratify a new four-year contract between the United Auto Workers union and the automaker that includes $9,000 signing bonuses and $6 billion in U.S. investment, including $200 million at the Chicago Assembly Plant.
Workers at the 95-year-old automotive plant on the Calumet River in Hegewisch just across the state line had voted to reject the deal, while workers at the Chicago Stamping Plant in Chicago Heights voted to accept it. It was approved by a majority — an estimated 56.3% — of the automaker's 55,000 hourly employees in Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, Missouri, Illinois and New York.
Ford said the deal will create or secure 8,500 hourly jobs in the United States, as well as offer employees pay increases, bonuses and profit-sharing. The Dearborn, Michigan-based automaker said its cost structure will remain similar to domestic competitors under the agreement, which it says improves its powertrain capacity utilization and maintains its best-in-class assembly plant capacity utilization in North America.
“We are pleased that we were able to reach an agreement quickly with the UAW without a costly disruption to production,” said Joe Hinrichs, Ford’s president of Automotive. “This deal helps Ford enhance our competitiveness and protect good-paying manufacturing jobs. Working with the UAW, we have added flexibility to our operations while keeping labor costs in line with projected U.S. manufacturing labor inflation costs and still rewarded our workers for their important contributions to the company.”
Read more: https://www.nwitimes.com/business/local/ford-workers-ratify-new-contract-that-includes-bonuses/article_1aa597fe-a513-51d5-b56f-bca669677e70.html#tracking-source=home-top-story-2
(Northwest Indiana Times)
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