US: Ford, UAW resume talks as they edge toward deal

Detroit Free Press - Ford and the UAW resumed contract talks today for a new national labor agreement as UAW leaders prepared to arrive in Detroit for a meeting Tuesday.

The UAW said Sunday it called its presidents and chairman of its local units to Detroit for a meeting for Tuesday in anticipation of reaching an agreement with Ford, but a deal has yet to be announced.

"Usually, they don't call them in, unless they are close to reaching a tentative agreement," said Art Schwartz, president of Labor and Economics Associates in Ann Arbor.

Still, calling the leaders to Detroit before a tentative agreement is reached is somewhat unusual for the UAW. Typically the union provides its leaders with printed summary of the full contract to take back to their members.

UAW President Bob King and UAW Vice President Jimmy Settles are in Dearborn at Ford's world headquarters today for the eighth straight day of talks.

"Progress continues to be made," said Ford spokeswoman Marcey Evans.

The talks covering 40,600 Ford workers began July 29. The two sides indefinitely extended the 2007 contract last month when the UAW negotiated a deal with General Motors first.

Last week, GM workers ratified a contract that provides a $5,000 signing bonus, up to $3.50-an-hour raises for entry-level workers and enhanced profit sharing.

But Ford workers want more because, they say, Ford didn't file for bankruptcy, they've made sacrifices that contributed to Ford's $14.2 billion in profits that since 2009 and CEO Alan Mulally and Chairman Bill Ford received $26.5 million each last year.

While Ford lost $30 billion from 2006 to 2008, the company has since made $14.2 billion. The company also paid Ford President and CEO Alan Mulally $26.5 billion for 2010.

Still, Kristin Dziczek, a labor analyst for the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, said Ford cannot afford to allow its labor costs to increase.

The automaker is still confronting a weak economy with U.S. industry sales that are much lower than their recent historical rates, she said. What's more, Ford is more dependent than ever on profits from passenger cars, which have smaller profit margins than trucks.

"Ford is doing well now, but in the very competitive auto industry, fortunes can change quickly," she said.