2 UAW locals back Ford pact changes

Two UAW locals representing five plants have ratified an agreement that approves changes to the union’s labor contract with Ford Motor Co. But the votes were close and opposition remains at other locals that are set to vote on the contract through the end of next week.

The locals that ratified the agreement are in Cleveland, Ohio, and Wayne.

At three Cleveland-area plants, workers who voted backed the proposed contract 61% to 39%, UAW Local 1250 President Mike Gammella said. The local represents about 1,300 workers at two engine plants and a stamping plant.

“I think they understood it was in our favor to secure this work in North America,” Gammella said. “We’ve got to make sure we get Ford 
 healthy again and maintain the integrity of the union, and I think these modifications do that.”

The contract also was ratified at UAW Local 900, which represents workers at Ford’s Wayne Assembly Plant. Just more than half of workers there voted in favor of the contract, said a source familiar with the process who is not authorized to speak about the results until the process is complete.

The tentative agreement announced last week between Ford and the UAW is designed to keep Ford competitive. It mirrors similar agreements ratified by UAW members for Chrysler Group LLC and General Motors Co. when those companies were on the brink of bankruptcy.

The modified agreement would freeze entry-level wages, consolidate skilled-trades classifications and require binding arbitration for wage and benefit disagreements at the end of the current contract.

Ford, in return, is promising to provide onetime $1,000 bonuses to workers, create new jobs and add several new products to its U.S. plants.

At UAW Local 1250, located in Brook Park, Ohio, workers began building Ford’s new six-cylinder Ecoboost engine last spring.

Under the tentative deal announced last week between Ford and UAW, Ford promised to provide the plant with an additional small engine but is planning to close another engine plant and the casting plant at the end of 2010, said Mark Payne, first vice president of the local.

Payne said Ford’s product commitment helped to sway voters.

“Without that additional work going into site No. 1, our site would have been in extreme jeopardy,” Payne said.

But some workers, including William O’Daniel, who works at Ford’s Kentucky Truck Plant, remain skeptical of Ford’s product promises.

“My vote is ‘No’
 based on the information I have,” O’Daniel said. – Freep

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