UAW Members at Ford and Visteon Ratify New Contracts

DETROIT, Sept. 30 -- UAW members have voted to ratify new four-year collective bargaining agreements with Ford and Visteon.

"Everyone on our bargaining team worked hard to meet the needs of our active and retired members at Ford and Visteon," said UAW President Ron Gettelfinger. "We're pleased that our members have expressed confidence in the results of our efforts."

"This was a very challenging set of negotiations," said UAW Vice President Gerald Bantom, who heads the union's UAW Ford Department. "Our bargaining team, with the support of our membership, certainly rose to the challenge. We believe we have laid a solid foundation for the future."

Bantom commended the work of the entire UAW Ford National Negotiating Committee, led by chairperson Joel Goddard, president of UAW Local 898 in Rawsonville, Mich.

The new contracts will cover over 72,000 active workers at Ford and more than 21,000 active workers at Visteon, as well as more than 77,000 retirees and 24,000 surviving spouses. Under terms of the new agreements, all active workers now at Visteon -- including those hired during the term of the 1999- 2003 agreement -- remain Ford employees for life, and the UAW Visteon contract mirrors in all respects the UAW Ford agreement.

The UAW Ford and Visteon contracts follow the same economic pattern as the agreement ratified last week by UAW members at DaimlerChrysler. Key provisions include a $3,000 signing bonus; a performance bonus in the second year of the contract; a 2 percent raise in the third year and a 3 percent raise in the fourth year.

The contracts do not allow any cost shifting of health insurance premiums to UAW Ford and Visteon workers. Pensions will be improved for both current and future retirees, and health and safety protections will be enhanced.

The agreements include several commitments by Ford and Visteon that are specific to UAW workers in Visteon facilities.

Visteon agreed to make sufficient capital investments in UAW-represented plants to be competitive and improve productive quality. Visteon also committed to allocate new product -- both Ford and non-Ford -- to UAW- represented facilities.

Ford agreed to allocate sufficient product to UAW-represented Visteon plants to assure their long-term viability, and to "look to Visteon first" as its supplier of choice when making sourcing decisions.

The UAW and Visteon also agreed to meet within 90 days of ratification of the UAW Visteon agreement to discuss a supplement to the UAW Visteon agreement, which would apply to new hires at Visteon. In the event the parties are unable to agree on the terms of such an agreement, the UAW Visteon agreement would remain in effect without modification.

The UAW and Visteon agreed to discuss "competitive wage and benefit levels," which refers to wages and benefits that meet those of an appropriate, representative group of UAW-represented employers in the U.S. automotive and truck component industry.

Visteon also agreed to the principle of "equivalence of sacrifice" when establishing compensation levels for management, requiring that top management take the lead by accepting compensation and benefit reductions at least as large in percentage terms as those sustained by new hires.

The new agreement also protects the rights of workers at facilities identified by Ford for sale or closure during the term of the new agreement. These include the Edison, N.J., assembly plant; the Vulcan Forge Plant in Detroit, Mich.; the Cleveland, (Ohio) Casting Plant and the Lorain, (Ohio) Assembly plant.

These workers will retain full job and income security protections, including the right to transfer to UAW Ford facilities as openings are available.