UAW President Fain 'wholeheartedly' endorses deal with Ford, urges members to approve it

UAW President Shawn Fain, flanked by a wall of UAW negotiators, took to Facebook Live on Sunday night to “wholeheartedly” endorse a tentative agreement the union reached last week with Ford Motor Co., and urging the 57,000 union-represented workers at the automaker to approve the deal.

The UAW and Ford reached the historic deal last Wednesday. The agreement would give autoworkers at Ford a 25% wage increase over the life of the 4.5-year contract, a return of its cost-of-living adjustment (COLA), and other improvements including in work life and in retirement. Each worker, including temporary employees, would receive a $5,000 ratification bonus.

“This contract demonstrates the incredible power workers have when they’re not afraid to use it," Fain told those watching his livestream.

He stood next to Chuck Browning — the UAW vice president who lead the the talks with Ford — with the entire team that negotiated with Ford behind them. He said all of them “wholeheartedly endorse this contract."

But, Fain told UAW members, “No matter what you decide, this contract remains a huge victory. For far too long we were being left behind in an economy that only worked for the billionaire class. This contract is more than just a contract, it’s a call to action to workers everywhere to organize and fight for a better life. Billionaires aren’t going to save the American Dream. Working-class people are saving the American Dream and the UAW is saving the American Dream.”

Fain's address came a day after the union reached a tentative agreement with Stellantis that mirrors much of what is in the tentative deal with Ford. That left only GM without an agreement at press time after 45 days of the strike, despite long bargaining sessions into the early morning hours over the past few days.

Fain did not mention the Stellantis agreement or the status of the GM negotiations, which were ongoing Sunday.

The Ford deal

UAW National Ford Council members came to Detroit earlier Sunday to sign off on the tentative contract. Fain said the UAW would post online the details of the deal — called a highlighter — Sunday night. This week, local union leaders will get a rundown in regional meetings, then take that information to host sessions for their members to discuss what’s in the agreement later in the week. Then members will vote on whether to ratify the contract, but he did not provide a date for that vote.

Browning said in seven rounds of negotiations throughout his career, he has "never seen anything like what I have seen with this Ford agreement we’re here to present you with tonight. We fought like hell and we won like never before."

One of the first things they did was demand a longer contract to expire on April 30, 2028.

"It allows us to strike on May Day or International Workers Day," Fain said. "That day was won on an intense struggle in 1889 for an 8-hour work day. We invite unions around the country to align their contract expiration dates with our own."

Fain said one of the UAW's biggest goals coming out of the negotiations is "to organize like we never have before" and add other automakers to the UAW membership.

Many of the Ford contract highlights the Free Press has previously reported, including the 25% pay increase over the life of the contract. It also includes a $1,500 voucher toward a vehicle purchase, commitments for work on electric vehicles, and Ford's future battery plants would be covered by the master contract.

"Everyone will get an 11% raise immediately upon ratification,” Fain said. “All new hires will be at top rate after three years. All active temps with 90 days of employment will automatically be converted to permanent. A temporary worker hired after ratification will start at $21 an hour and make over $40 an hour by the end of the agreement, that does not include the additional amount they will make due to COLA. And all will get profit sharing checks starting next year."

Browning said by the end of this contract, COLA will contribute $8,800 to everyone’s paycheck over the life of the agreement.

For the full details, Fain urged people to visit www.uaw.org/ford2023.

GM faces pressure to get a deal done

On Sunday, negotiations between GM and the union continued after the UAW took surprise strike action late Saturday against one of the automaker's key plants: Spring Hill Assembly in Tennessee. The move put increased pressure on GM and the union to reach a tentative agreement.

"Striking the Spring Hill facility is the knockout punch to GM," said Erik Gordon, a business professor and labor expert at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. "GM either will concede what it has to reach a deal or will shut down production."

GM builds its Cadillac top sellers at Spring Hill: The XT5 and XT6 SUVS and the new Lyriq all-electric SUV. It also makes the GMC Acadia mid-size SUV there. The Spring Hill complex is also significant because its engine plant supplies several GM factories that make other top-selling vehicles.

"The tentative agreements with Ford and Stellantis put more pressure on both the UAW and GM to settle," said Marick Masters, a business professor and labor expert at Wayne State University. "Obviously, a stalemate was encountered in round-the-clock bargaining that compelled the union to call the fifth wave of strikes."

Art Wheaton, director of Labor Studies at Cornell University, agreed and suggested that the union "would not have escalated at Spring Hill if they were close to a deal."

But Wheaton noted that it took a one-day strike against GM by Unifor — the union that represents Canada's autoworkers — on Oct. 10 for the company to follow the pattern set by Unifor’s tentative deal with Ford.

"Maybe GM’s trying to show some resistance?" Wheaton said. "I don’t think that GM is going to win by holding it up. There is an avalanche of success on Shawn Fain’s part to follow the pattern.”

The UAW started its targeted Stand Up Strike on Sept. 15. While the strikers at Ford and Stellantis are now preparing to return to work to consider their tentative contracts for ratification, GM has the following facilities still on strike: 18 parts distribution centers, Wentzville Assembly in Missouri, Lansing Delta Township Assembly in Michigan, Arlington Assembly in Texas and Spring Hill Assembly.

More:The UAW faces a big test as it prepares to bring Ford deal to its members. How we got here

More:Stellantis, UAW reach tentative deal on contract, with new product for Belvidere

Contact Jamie L. LaReau: jlareau@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @jlareauan. Read more on General Motors and sign up for our autos newsletter. Become a subscriber