LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A tentative agreement has now been reached between the United Auto Workers (UAW) and Ford.
It still needs to be ratified by Ford's roughly 57,000 UAW members.
"For months, we've said that record profits mean record contracts," union President Shawn Fain said on social media. "And UAW family, our Stand Up Strike has delivered."
"I'm excited, I'm excited to get back to work," Local 862 President Todd Dunn said.
Since a tentative agreement has been reached, the UAW National Ford Council has to vote whether to send the tentative agreement to everyone or not Fain said. They'll then host a Facebook Live to review the tentative agreement publicly.
Regional meetings will go through the tentative agreement with local leaders, at which point they will hold informational meetings about it before the ratification vote the union president said.
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"I hate to say that this strike was a good thing to happen, but it was a good thing to happen," Dunn said. "It was a good problem to have. And I think you’re going to see that parlay head off when we come back into the plants. I’m seeing more solidarity, more strength, more leadership."
Vice President Chuck Browning said they will get a 25% general wage increase over the course of this tentative agreement, the starting wage will increase about 68% and the top wage will increase about 33%.
Temporary employees will get a 150% raise through the tentative agreement according to union officials.
"When we say we made history, we don't just mean me and Chuck or our national negotiators," Fain said. "We mean we, the UAW. We mean the Stand Up Strikers of Local 900 Michigan Assembly who took the first step. Our family at Local 551 Chicago Assembly who brought the noise. And our UAW family at Kentucky Truck Plant, Local 862, who landed the biggest blow."
Ford officials said they are pleased to reach a tentative agreement with the union.
"Ford is proud to assemble the most vehicles in America and employ the most hourly autoworkers," they said. "We are focused on restarting Kentucky Truck Plant, Michigan Assembly Plant and Chicago Assembly Plant, calling 20,000 Ford employees back to work and shipping our full lineup to our customers again."
The union called on all workers at Ford to return to their jobs and said that will put pressure on GM and Stellantis to bargain.
Typically, during past auto strikes, a UAW deal with one automaker has led the other companies to match it with their own settlements.
"I think we'll be a stronger community, a stronger company, and a stronger organization when it's all said and done," Dunn said.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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