Sources hint at progress in UAW-automakers standoff

Ford Motor Co. says it has made a comprehensive offer to the United Auto Workers (UAW) in an effort to reach a tentative agreement on a new master labor agreement through April 30, 2028.

While the UAW has yet to make a statement in reply, Reuters reports that UAW President Shawn Fain is expected to provide an update Friday to the union's 150,000 members who work at Ford, General Motors and Stellantis.

All three vehicle producers have been affected by a sequence of UAW strikes that began at selected Ford, GM and Stellantis plants in mid-September.

Ford says its early October offer provides its 57,000 UAW-represented employees with a record contract and a strong future. The offer includes improvements in wages and benefits as well as “commitments for every UAW factory and job security.”

“There’s no doubt our UAW workforce put us on their shoulders during the pandemic, and these same workers and their families were hit hard by inflation,” Ford President and CEO Jim Farley says. “We want to make sure our workers come out of these negotiations with two things: a record contract and a strong future.”

The recent Reuters report indicates UAW and Ford negotiators “have narrowed their differences” and that talks between the company and the union have been active. The same sources likewise characterize talks between the UAW and Stellantis as active.

While Fain could provide an update on the situation between Ford and the UAW, Reuters says its sources don’t know whether the UAW will order a fresh round of walkouts or declare sufficient progress has been made to delay strikes at additional plants.

General Motors, meanwhile, reportedly has secured an additional $6 billion line of credit in part allocated to seeing it through the UAW strike. Ford earlier secured a $4 billion line of credit, according to Reuters.

“There has been movement [in negotiations]," Fain says in a statement Sept. 22. "In particular, we’ve made real progress at Ford. We’re not there yet, but I want you to see the direction that Ford is going and what we think that means for our contract fight.”

Southfield, Michigan-based trade association MEMA (originally known as the Motor Equipment Manufacturers Association) says a survey of its member companies has found nearly 30 percent of surveyed vehicle suppliers have laid off employees as a result of the strike, while more than 60 percent are expecting to begin layoffs later this month.

Factories operated by automakers and MEMA member companies generate steady flows of metal, cardboard and plastic scrap, while the automotive manufacturing sector likewise is one of the largest end markets for recycled-content steel and aluminum.