US: Ford workers close in on approving UAW contract
Bloomberg News - UAW workers at two assembly plants in Kentucky have voted in favor of Ford’s tentative contract, all but assuring its ratification.
Todd Dunn, President of UAW Local 862, told the Free Press this evening that 53.3% of workers voted in favor of the deal at Louisville Assembly and Kentucky Truck.
Votes from several other plants, including three in Ohio, have yet to be tallied. Still, opposition to the agreement was thought to be high in Louisville, and was viewed by experts as the last major hurdle to ratification of Ford’s deal.
Without the results from the plants in Kentucky 63.2% of the 26,389 workers whose votes had been tallied supported the agreement, according to the UAW Ford Department.
As recently as Friday, the fate of the deal -- which creates thousands of jobs in Michigan -- was in jeopardy after a majority of workers at plants in Wayne and Chicago, Ill., voted against the deal.
Ford's contract would provide up-front before-tax bonuses of $10,000 and $1,500 in annual bonuses to workers as well a raise for lower-cost entry-level workers. Ford also has promised to invest $6.2 billion in U.S. plants and add 5,750 new jobs.
The agreement covers 41,000 Ford hourly workers.
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