UAW production members voted 51.3% in favor; skilled trades were 52.4% in favor and nearly 91.5% of salaried workers voted yes.
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John Fleming, Ford’s executive vice president for worldwide manufacturing and labour issues, said in a statement: “This arrangement gives an excellent basis for Ford Motor Company, our workers as well as our communities as we work collectively to create an even more powerful company in the years ahead”.
On Wednesday, the union launched a last-ditch effort to save the pact as UAW-Ford Vice President Jimmy Settles and Local 600 President Bernie Ricke called a news conference in Dearborn to emphasize the contract’s benefits. That was before a big auto plant in Chicago voted 68 percent against the contract.
The United Auto Workers union and General Motors finally have a contract through September 2019.
Ford is the final Detroit automaker to reach a new national agreement.
“We will continue to work with our UAW partners to implement the agreement, and engage our employees in improving the business and building great vehicles for our customers”.
UAW President Dennis Williams said in a statement that “our UAW members have ratified the national agreement after a long process and much debate”.
Ford said it was pleased with the vote.
A few Ford workers pointed to the outcome at FCA as evidence that voting “no” would produce a better deal for themselves as well.
Meanwhile, Ford’s new four-year contract was still being voted on by UAW members on Friday, with the prospects for passage bleak. It also includes eliminating the pay gap between veteran workers and newer hires over eight years and entry-level workers would be moved to the same health care plan as traditional workers.
The UAW announced on Friday the ratification of new four-year agreements with both GM and Ford. It also promises bonuses of up to $10,250 per worker this year and annual profit-sharing checks and other bonuses each year thereafter.
The UAW-FCA agreement was ratified on October 22, three weeks after an initial tentative agreement was rejected. It was dubbed one of the “richest agreements in the history of UAW-Ford” by the union. General Motors’ contract was approved earlier Friday after extended negotiations with skilled trades workers, including electricians, who had initially rejected it. The contracts cover around 142,000 workers in all.
The delay has led to a few tension between production and skilled trades workers, with a few production workers upset because they wanted their $8,000 ratification bonuses sooner.
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The details of the Ford contract were not immediately disclosed, but it was expected to be similar to contracts ratified earlier by General Motors and Fiat Chrysler.
