United Auto Workers and Ford Agree to Tentative Deal After 41 Days of Targeted Strikes

After 41 days of unprecedented, targeted rolling strikes against the Detroit Three, the United Auto Workers has agreed to a tentative labor contract with Ford.

"Today we reached a tentative agreement with Ford," UAW President Shawn Fain said. "For months we said record profits mean record contracts and UAW family our Stand-up strike has delivered."

The UAW's National Ford Council on Sunday will now vote to send the agreement to the 57,000 UAW members at Ford to vote on ratifying the proposal. A date for the general membership's vote was not announced.

The UAW's roughly 146,000 members demanded 40% wage hikes, better retirement benefits, a 32-hour workweek and cost-of-living adjustments, from Ford, General Motors and Stellantis. All three of the automakers have had some of their facilities struck since Sept. 15.

As the strikes progressed, the union signaled in negotiations a willingness to make compromises. The UAW's demands related to wage hikes, for example, were reportedly lowered to as low as 25%, despite the union's aggressive strategies.

Ford has agreed to a 25% general wage hike, while temporary workers will see 150% wage hikes over the course of the agreement. Additionally, some workers at the Sterling Axle facility and Rawsonville Components plant in Michigan will receive an immediate 85% wage hike.

Additionally, the automaker has agreed to reinstate the cost-of-living adjustment formula suspended in the wake of the 2007-2008 Financial Crisis, as well as eliminate all tiers in its wage progression system and reduce the time it takes for workers to make it through the automaker's wage system to three years from eight.

Ford also agreed to give the UAW the right to strike over plant closures and increased pension and retirement benefits for members.

"This agreement sets us on a new path to make things right at Ford, at the Big Three and across the auto industry," Fain said. "Together we are turning the tide for the working class in this country."

More than 45,000 autoworkers are striking at dozens of facilities across the three companies. One of each automaker's assembly complexes, including Ford's Michigan Assembly Complex, was initially struck by the UAW just hours after existing labor contracts expired on Sept. 14.

Roughly 16,600 workers at Ford's Kentucky Truck Plant, Chicago Assembly Plant and Michigan Assembly Plant are on strike against the automaker; more than 3,160 have been laid off at several facilities since the strikes began. Striking autoworkers will now return to work over the next few days.

"Ford is proud to assemble the most vehicles in America and employ the most hourly autoworkers," the company said in a statement. Ford added that it is now focused on restarting the struck plants and calling 20,00 employees back to work.

The tentative agreement marks a conciliatory note to potentially end a tense standoff between the UAW and Ford. The automaker had accused the union of holding negotiations "hostage" over four electric vehicle battery plants that are currently under constriction; the UAW has said it wants to secure jobs at the plants as automakers largely transition to producing EVs.

Additionally, the automaker's earlier failure to present a new tentative proposal to the union on Oct. 11 led Fain to announce a strike against Ford's Kentucky plant, which generates $25 billion in revenue for the company each year and is closely connected to 11 other facilities.

Since Fain first revealed the UAW's willingness to launch so-called surprise strikes against the automakers, the union has called on workers at Stellantis' Sterling Heights Assembly Plant in Michigan and GM's Arlington Assembly Plant in Texas to join the picket line.

Notably, the two parties came to an agreement just a day before Ford is scheduled to report its earnings for the third fiscal quarter. GM, which reported its earnings on Tuesday, did so just hours before the UAW struck its "moneymaker" Texas plant.

The union's strikes have cost the automotive industry and consumers $9.3 billion in economic losses across the five weeks of its walkouts, according to the East Lansing, Michigan-based Anderson Economic Group. The Detroit Three automakers have lost at least $4.18 billion, the firm estimates.

Each job at the automakers has a ripple effect, creating nearly 11 other positions in other industries across the country, according to the industry trade group Alliance for Automotive Innovation.