Workers at Ford’s Kansas City Assembly factory have reportedly rejected the tentative agreement between United Auto Work negotiators and the company.
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The production workers have voted to ratify the tentative agreement. But according to reports in the Detroit News and Detroit Free Press, close to a third of eligible workers have voted. UAW president Dennis Williams said in a statement that, based on the feedback from skilled trades membership, he was determined to further discuss the situation with the company.
But it’s not a done deal.
Voting was scheduled to wrap up late Sunday at Local 249, representing Ford’s Kansas City Assembly Plant, which builds the popular F-150 pickup and Transit van, but results were not available at presstime.
If Kansas City’s concerns are shared by other Ford workers, the voting could swing against the deal.
Isn’t approval a foregone conclusion? . Workers at the Sterling Axle and Rawsonville plants in MI have also rejected the deal.
Meanwhile, the UAW is still trying to decide what to do about its agreement with General Motors. Specifically, the two organizations are focused on issues brought up by skilled trades workers – the electricians, millwrights, pipefitters and diemakers – of who majority voted against the deal due to a multitude of issues, thereby delaying the ratification of the new agreement and resulting in the extension of the old, 2011 deal.
Under the tentative contract, the Ohio Assembly plant would receive $250 million in new investments, including a new product.
The deal also includes commitments from the Dearborn automaker to spend $9 billion at facilities across the USA which affects 8,500 jobs that are retained or added.
What if workers reject the deal? . About a quarter of Ford’s 52,900 UAW-represented workers have had the chance to vote so far. UAW workers at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles ratified a new four-year agreement last month.
“How many unions do we have – one for production and a more important one for trades?”
But if Ford and the UAW’s leaders were to reach a hard impasse, the UAW could resort to strikes.
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But a rejection that leads to a breakdown in negotiations could turn out to be very expensive for Ford. That would move the stock, and not in a good way.
