Ford Focus Production Will be at Centre of UAW Contract negotiation

Cosmonaut · Jul 23, 2015

The UAW has been renegotiating contracts recently, and soon it sit down at the negotiating table with Ford. Focus production has been moved to Mexico, and that leaves the future of its previous home, Ford's Michigan Assembly plant in Wayne, in limbo.

"I will save my comments for Ford when we open up Ford," negotiations, Williams said last week during the GM event. "I will say it’s always concerning to me when any corporation invests outside of the U.S....there are a variety of reasons to do it…we will address Ford at the right time."

Apparently, moving production of a vehicle a few days before the start of contract discussions is somewhat unusual.

Ford has said that it has no intention of closing the plant, but has not yet said what car or truck would replace it.

The Detroit Free Press goes into more detail on what Ford pays compares to other companies, and also its two tier payment structure.

"Ford and the UAW have come a long way since 2007, and have both benefited from working together," Ford said on a Web site dedicated to contract talks. "The UAW has taken a constructive approach in working with Ford. Meanwhile, the company has made, kept and exceeded our promises on job creation, in-sourcing and investment."

The two tier system sounds terrible. I hope that there is a move to bring the two wage systems into more parity.

Creedence · Jul 23, 2015

Cosmonaut said:
The UAW has been renegotiating contracts recently, and soon it sit down at the negotiating table with Ford. Focus production has been moved to Mexico, and that leaves the future of its previous home, Ford's Michigan Assembly plant in Wayne, in limbo.

Apparently, moving production of a vehicle a few days before the start of contract discussions is somewhat unusual.

Ford has said that it has no intention of closing the plant, but has not yet said what car or truck would replace it.

The Detroit Free Press goes into more detail on what Ford pays compares to other companies, and also its two tier payment structure.

The two tier system sounds terrible. I hope that there is a move to bring the two wage systems into more parity.

You do know it was the UAW who had a huge hand in bankrupting the US auto industry back in 2008?

I'mBlue · Jul 30, 2015

Wasn't Ford the only one of the three that didn't go bankrupt in the Auto crisis?

centurion · Jul 30, 2015

That i'm not sure, if not they held out best. GM and Chrysler did indeed go under unfortunately.

ExtremeFocus · Aug 5, 2015

I found an article about the auto crisis of 2008 and the UAW: http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2012/06/auto-bailout-or-uaw-bailout-taxpayer-losses-came-from-subsidizing-union-compensation

Seems like Ford was the only one who didn't go bankrupt and maybe in effect, had more leverage when it came to the UAW.

centurion · Aug 5, 2015

Having already been in other markets might be what helped them, then of course what they were already doing here in America.

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