Ford and the United Auto Workers finally reached an agreement after the workers of the company narrowly approved a new four-year contract.
As reported by Business Insider, the newly approved deal wrapped up almost five months of negotiations between the UAW and the Detroit-based automakers.
Ford's contract passed with a 51.4 percent vote, with the agreement covering 53,000 U.S. hourly workers at 22 plants, according to the UAW.
UAW Vice President Jimmy Settles said, "There is no higher authority than the membership. Through a fair and democratic process UAW-Ford members have delivered job security and strong economic gains for their families and communities."
As noted, the leaders of the union held a press conference earlier this week to push for the Ford agreement when they feared that the workers would reject the deal. Some of the workers said that the union did not push hard enough to win back things that they have lost in previous agreements that included annual wage increases.
In addition, the workers also said that they wanted a two-tier wage system that eliminated immediately instead of over eight years, as the contract promises.
In a similar report by the Chicago Sun Times, Union leaders addressed these concerns and said that they might not get a better deal from Ford if the workers rejected the agreement and sent them back to the bargaining table.
Bernie Ricke, union president of Local 600 said, "If we thought there was another dollar on the table, we would have got it the first time."
According to the report, the contract raises wages for all workers and gradually eliminates the two-tier system that currently pays newer workers less than veteran ones. The contract also promises bonuses of up to $10,250 per worker this year and annual profit-sharing checks and other bonuses in each year after that.
Moreover, the new Ford contract also guarantees $9 billion in investments at the company's U.S. plants over four years, that will create 8,500 jobs in the country, Business Finance News has learned.
In a related news, the General Motors deal was also ratified when the skilled workers rejected the agreement for income parity. The deal was delayed for two weeks while the union was busy resolving skilled workers' issues.
Also, after months of negotiations with the Detroit automakers, the UAW also has closed a deal with the Fiat Chrysler Automobiles union workers in September. The revised deal with successive income parity between new and senior workers was later accepted by the company workers by a three-to-one margin last October.
Moreover, all three contracts with the big three Detroit automakers entails wage raises, investments commitments and high bonuses in return for ratification. These new contracts are expected to add some load to the companies' balance sheets.
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