Local Ford Workers Reject Contract; Strike Imminent

Photo Credit: Kevin Robinson

Ford Motor Co. workers rejected a four-year contract with the automaker, putting a proposed plan to add new jobs to the South side plant in jeopardy and setting the stage for a national strike order.

Union leaders said the deal agreed to in principle with Ford was fair, yet 77 percent of the 2,317 UAW workers at the plant rejected the contract. UAW workers in Detroit also voted to reject the contract. Some of the union's rank-and-file are miffed at the profits Ford has earned over the past two years: about $9.3 billion. Ford CEO Alan Mulally also earned $26.5 million in compensation last year, which did not go unnoticed by them. They're also angry that cost-of-living raises they lost in previous agreements weren't restored with the proposed contract.

UAW workers at Ford plants across the country have until Oct. 18 to vote on the new contract but, with the Chicago votes now starting to come in, the union has more nays than yeas. Grant Morton, United Auto Workers Union Local 551 plant chairman, said the union was given direction to mobilize for a strike and that a strike authorization vote from UAW's executive board will take place if the deal is rejected nationally.