UAW leaders are addressing concerns by its Ford members that they will be forced to essentially take the same deal FCA is getting.
One of the United Auto Workers top negotiators said the union’s next contract with the Ford Motor Co. will be flexible enough and different enough to match the automaker’s particular needs.
“I am updating you on where we currently are in the negotiation process. I understand that this process has taken longer than expected,” Jimmy Settles, the vice president in charge of the union’s Ford said in a note to UAW members.
“As most of you know, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) was chosen as the lead company and the UAW is currently working toward ratification of its tentative agreement from the UAW-FCA membership. UAW-FCA is tentatively expected to conclude its voting on October 21st, 2015,” Settles added.
Settles said it was “imperative that you keep in mind” that the FCA agreement is only a pattern and the tentative agreement reached with Ford will be UAW-Ford specific. The next Ford contract will be aimed at addressing concerns with the current agreement and securing gains for Ford employees, Settles said.
(UAW taking heat for second iteration of FCA contract. For more, Click Here.)
However, the next Ford-UAW contract is expected to include a path for workers now assigned to the second tier to reach the first tier after eight years of service with the company. The provision was one of the key changes the union negotiated with FCA after the first proposed contract was rejected by union members.
At Ford, the union also has concerns about the scope of the company’s investment in factories in Mexico. Earlier this year, the automaker said it was shifting production of its Ford Focus and C-Max to another plant.
(For more on why the original FCA-UAW contract was rejected, Click Here.)
At the time, the automaker did not identify where the small cars, which are not selling well in this climate of $2-per-gallon gas, would be moved. However, union sources said they were going to Mexico. The automaker, which said the move wouldn’t occur until 2018, said a new product would take over the production availability at the plant in Michigan that build the two small cars. That is expected to be the Ford Ranger.
Settles said the UAW expects to negotiate an agreement that meets the contractual, economic, social concerns of UAW members and “provides long-term job security for all current and future UAW-Ford members. This allows us to continue to grow the American economy and rebuild the middle-class,” he said.
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“We have to understand the unique challenges we face during each set of negotiations and address them while planting seeds for the future. I respectfully ask that you wait to pass judgment until we reach a tentative agreement at Ford,” Settles said.