AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
By Bill Visnic October 19, 2011
After early uncertainty about the popularity with rank-and-file members of a proposed new four-year labor contract with Ford Motor Co., the United Auto Workers (UAW) union announced today it has ratified the agreement, with about 63 percent of UAW hourly workers voting to approve the deal. The contract, running through 2015, provides for about 5,750 new U.S. jobs, including some “insourced” to the U.S. that formerly were in Mexico, China and Japan, solidifies a home for the iconic Ford Mustang and guarantees an investment of $6.2 billion in Ford’s U.S. plants.
The new agreement covers about 41,000 UAW hourly workers, by Ford’s count. In a release, the UAW said the contract includes a $6,000-per-worker signing bonus and “$7,000 in Inflation Protection and Competitive lump-sum payments over the term of the agreement, a new, more transparent and simple profit sharing plan in which workers will receive their first payment averaging $3,700 this year. Entry-level wages were also increased to $19.28 over the term of the agreement.” Entry-level or so-called “second-tier” wages started at about $14 per hour under the prior contract. The inflation-protection payments to each worker are $1,500 annually starting in 2012.
“As the nation’s economy remains stalled and uncertain and its employment rate stagnates, we were able to win an agreement with Ford that will bring auto manufacturing jobs back to the United States from China, Mexico and Japan,” said UAW President Bob King. He said the 5,750 new UAW jobs provided for in the four-year contract brings to 12,000 the number of new jobs at Ford. And the company’s total investment in new vehicles and component-making facilities will be $16 billion.
New Life For U.S. Plants
The new Ford-UAW labor agreement spells out numerous upgrades and new or upgraded products for several U.S. plants, including ones in Michigan and Ohio that were potential candidates for closure. Of particular note is the provision to install a “new, flexible assembly system” at Ford’s Flat Rock, Mich., plant to become the second-source plant for the Fusion midsize sedan, which currently is built exclusively in Hermasillo, Mexico. The plant, already producing the Mustang coupe and convertible, also was confirmed as the assembly site for the next-generation Mustang. Ford’s Ohio Assembly plant in Avon Lake, Ohio, which was widely speculated as ripe for closure, wins production of medium-duty (F-650 and F-750) trucks that currently are produced in a joint venture operation in Mexico. The plant also will produce motorhome and commercial-vehicle “stripped chassis,” after the plant discontinues production of the hoary E-Series fullsize van. Ford said the E-Series will continue to be produced “in certain variations through most of the decade.”
The contract’s largest investment commitment comes at Ford’s Kansas City, MO, assembly plant, where $1 billion will go to add production of the Transit fullsize commercial van, the larger brother of the Transit Connect Ford introduced in 2008 and currently is imported from Turkey. The company will build a new stamping facility at the site to accommodate the Transit. The Kansas City plant also add a second shift of F-Series truck production next year. The contract spells out other upgrades and future-product commitments, which can be found in full detail here, including confirmation that Ford will indeed close its Twin Cities assembly plant in Minnesota this year, marking the end of the Ranger midsize pickup truck.
Another notable disclosure in the new labor contract details a “new, industry leading small V6” to be built at Ford’s Lima, Ohio, engine plant – presumably to replace the 3.0-liter Duratec V6, which is phased out this year and had been in production for 18 years. Ford also is adding capacity to fit 6-speed automatic transmissions in two new vehicles and is phasing out production of 4-speed automatics.
Bill Visnic: is an AutoObserver Senior Editor. Follow @AutoObserver on Twitter
0 comments:
Post a Comment