Ford says it made ‘comprehensive’ offer to UAW

Ford said that, on Monday night, it made a comprehensive offer to the UAW in an effort to reach a tentative agreement on a new master labor agreement through April 30, 2028. It is the seventh and strongest offer Ford has made on the key economic issues since Aug. 29. Ford has received two comprehensive counteroffers from the UAW, the last on Sept. 25. “Ford’s latest offer provides our 57,000 UAW-represented employees with a record contract and a strong future,” the car maker said. “Ford’s offer includes unprecedented improvements in wages (putting employees among the top 25% of all U.S. jobs, hourly and salaried) and benefits, product commitments for every UAW factory and job security. At the same time, it preserves Ford’s ability to invest and grow.””The union has taken a hard line on battery plants,” the company continued. “While Ford remains open to the possibility of working with the UAW on future battery plants in the United States, these are multi-billion-dollar investments and must operate at competitive and sustainable levels. Three of the four battery plants under construction are part of the BlueOval SK joint venture between Ford and SK On. The workforce for these operations has not been hired. The future employees at these operations can choose to be union represented and enter into the collective bargaining process. As Ford has made clear, none of our employees, including powertrain employees, will lose their jobs due to our battery plants during this contract period. In fact, for the foreseeable future, we will have to hire more workers as some workers retire, in order to keep up with demand for our ICE products.”