UAW strike: Union, Ford reach tentative 4-year labor deal

DETROIT — The Ford Motor Co. and the United Auto Workers reached a tentative agreement on a new four-year union contract on Wednesday.

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The deal to end the 41-day strike was concluded Wednesday evening, The New York Times, The Associated Press and the Detroit Free Press reported.

In a video posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, UAW President Shawn Fain called the agreement “a major victory.”

“Our standup strike has delivered,” Fain said. “Ford knew what was coming if we didn’t get a deal.

“That was checkmate. On Day 40 of the standup strike, we reached a historic agreement.”

According to the proposed contract, Ford has agreed to give factory workers a 25% wage increase over the life of the agreement, The Wall Street Journal reported. That raise includes an 11% increase during the first year.

That means the top pay for assembly workers would jump from $32 per hour to approximately $40 per hour, according to the newspaper.

Ford, Stellantis and General Motors had all offered 23% pay increases, according to the AP.

The strike had halted work at Ford factories in Chicago; Louisville, Kentucky; and Wayne, Michigan, The Washington Post reported.

The union continues to negotiate with General Motors and Stellantis, whose brands include Chrysler, Jeep and Ram, the Times reported.

UAW’s membership must approve any agreement, with a majority vote needed for adoption, The Wall Street Journal reported. The agreement would cover approximately 57,000 union-represented workers at Ford, according to the newspaper.

Ford had been bracing for expansion of the labor strike that began on Sept. 15, the Free Press reported. Sources told the newspaper that a walkout had been planned at Ford’s Dearborn Truck Plant at the Rouge, but that did not happen.

Earlier Wednesday, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Witmer suggested that union negotiators and officials with Detroit’s Big Three automakers should “be locked in a room” until a tentative agreement was reached, The Detroit News reported.

“I really believe that it’s time for all of them to be locked in a room and not to come out until the deal is done,” Whitmer said during an event in Flint.

On Tuesday, thousands of UAW members in Texas walked off the job at General Motors’ Arlington Assembly Plant.

The UAW strike was the union’s first against all of Detroit’s Big Three automakers at the same time, the Post reported. It was the first national strike against Ford since 1979, according to the newspaper.