Ford (F) Gets Its UAW Deal, Workers Save The Company

Cars and Drivers

Published: November 3, 2007 7:52 am

The UAW negotiations with Ford (F) went fast. The template was already in place from the deals with GM (GM) and Chrysler. There will be a fund set up so that the UAW can pay out benefit money. Ford will probably have to put up $20 billion to set this up. Workers will be put into two tiers with the lower level employess being paid less.

Ford is in trouble, so getting a contract finished was important. With twelve months in a row of declining sales, the No.2 US car company could not have weathered much of a strike.

The UAW chief Ron Gettelfinger may end up being the man who was most responsible for fixing the wreck that Bill Ford made of his family’s company. Alan Mulally, who was brought in from Boeing (BA) to take over the flagging car company may have his name in the history books. But, if the head of the union had kicked Ford when it was down, it mgiht have been the finish.

Gettelfinger gave up a lot of jobs to give Ford the chance to be financially viable again. And, for that his members may not remember him kindly.

Douglas A. McIntyre

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