More UAW workers at major Ford plants vote "yes" for the new contract

Last week, the big news was that workers at Ford’s Chicago Assembly Plant and a handful of plants around the Detroit area voted “no” to the pending labor contract. As we neared the week’s end, those UAW locals reporting the results of their voting process were showing that 53% of the workers were opposed to the new deal but as the weekend arrived, plants including the Dearborn Truck Plant, the Kansas City plant and the Flat Rock Plant all gave the thumbs up to the new contract. These positive results through the weekend have swung the approval rating from 47% last week to 62%. All that is needed to ratify the new deal is for the majority (51%) of the workers to vote in favor of the agreement.

Thus far, of the 40,600 union workers employed by Ford Motor Company, just shy of 24,000 have voted on the new deal with 14,845 voting in favor of the deal while the other 9,076 voted against the contract. To get 51% of the votes, that means that 20,706 total workers would have to vote in favor of the new deal so Ford essentially needs just 5,861 more “yes” votes from those 16,679 workers who have not yet voted. In other words, Ford only needs about 36% of the remaining workers yet to vote to approve the new deal for the 4-yer contract to be ratified.

This big swing by UAW workers towards supporting the new 4-year contract with Ford should help to ensure that it is approved when the voting closes tomorrow. Had the workers voted against the proposed contract, Ford workers could have gone on strike since they are the only group of the three American auto companies who have the right to do so. According to the Automotive News, had the Ford workers set up picket lines, it would have cost Ford Motor Company $273 million per day in lost revenue with another $71 million lost in variable profits for a total daily lost by the company of $344 million dollars. Luckily, it looks like there is a good chance that Ford will not have to worry about that as the workers look to be leaning towards ratification and we will know for sure by Wednesday whether the tentative deal is approved.

Other Ford News:
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Things look brighter for Ford-UAW deal as Mustang plant votes Yes
UAW locals responsible for Explorer, F150 reject new Ford contract
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New 5.8L V8 confirmed for 2013 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500
Next Gen Ford Fusion production could save the Ford Mustang facility

Source: Automotive News