UAW Ford Collective Bargaining Agreement Sets Job Precedents

09/18/96

Reuters has reported that the tentative agreement bargained by the United Auto Workers and Ford Motor Company includes some economic gains for workers and sets new precedents for preserving jobs.

Although full details of the agreement have not been released, analysts are calling the new three-year contract a victory for the union, because of Ford's commitment to maintain employment for 95 percent of its 105,000-member hourly UAW work force. Its the first contract to limit the ability of any Big Three automaker to shrink its work force. Union and industry sources say that the deal requires Ford to maintain a specified hourly employment level at each of its 49 U.S. parts and assembly plants and at other facilities. The contract will require Ford to replace thousands of employees who retire over the next several years and maintain nearly 100,000 UAW hourly jobs.

The contract reportedly gives workers a $2,000 bonus in the first year, and base-wage increases of 3 percent in the final two years, an improvement over the current pact, which offered a base wage gain in only one year and lump-sum payments in subsequent years. Additionally, the agreement includes significantly improved pension benefits, a key demand of many Ford workers who face retirement soon. The monthly pension payment rises to $2,260 a month from a current monthly average of $2,030.

Reportedly, contract language on outsourcing, which was widely considered to be this year's key issue, was not changed significantly. The provision allows Ford some flexibility on parts purchases, as long as it meets its employment requirements. Trotman said the new pact benefits both the company and employees: "It's not a one-way street."

Sources said the automaker will also benefit from two salary provisions. The first allows Ford to offer new hires a lower wage if it employs them to do work that Ford takes back from outside suppliers. The second provision is a hold-over from the last contract. It allows Ford to start any new hire at a salary equivalent to 70% of full wages, increasing the salary to reach parity with veteran workers over three years.

Neither Ford nor the union will confirm any details of the agreement, which the union was scheduled to present to its executive board yesterday. The UAW's Ford Council, made up of plant-level leaders, is expected to vote on the pact Wednesday, and Ford's rank-and-file workers will begin voting on the pact next Monday, Sept. 23.

Analysts say Chrysler Corporation will probably be able to meet the terms of the Ford agreement if it is imposed as a pattern contract, but they say GM will have a difficult time with it. They say the Ford pact would restrict GM from axing the 50,000 to 60,000 employees it "needs" to get rid of in order to reach Ford's level of productivity.

UAW President Stephen Yokich declined to say how the pact would affect GM or Chrysler, but added that his goal all along was to reach "an agreement that all the companies can work with."

Yokich complimented Ford Chairman Alex Trotman for becoming directly involved in the bargaining process: "He's been involved. It used to be you had to go up to see the chairman, now he comes down to see you."

The UAW has not decided whether it will try to bargain with General Motors or Chrysler next, but Yokich said the decision would be based partly on the outcome of the Canadian Auto Workers talks with Chrysler.

One report said that CAW President Buzz Hargrove had announced that the union had tentatively settled the key outsourcing issue that had held up labor talks with Chrysler, although a different report said that the CAW had stopped talks with Chrysler, because of the carmaker's recalcitrance in regards to outsourcing.

Earlier the CAW had set a strike deadline for talks with Chrysler of 11:59 pm on Tuesday.

Paul Dever -- The Auto Channel