Key plants, including Ford’s main truck facility in Michigan, are yet to vote|Mike Mozart|CC BY 2.0

The United Auto Workers (UAW) at Ford’s Louisville assembly and Kentucky truck plants, employing around 8,700 workers, have voted against a proposed four-and-a-half-year contract the UAW reached this month.

Roughly 54.5% of production workers voted against the ratification of the contract the UAW Local 862 union announced. However, 69% of skilled workers voted in favor of the deal.

A UAW vote tracker indicates that 70% of votes across Ford’s US facilities currently support the agreement.

Key plants, including Ford’s main truck facility in Michigan, are yet to vote. The company’s stock closed at $9.82 per share yesterday.

A similar resistance was observed at the General Motors (GM) Flint Assembly plant, where 52% of votes opposed the contract.

Why?
Despite lucrative terms, including a 25% wage increase by 2027, workers remain dissatisfied, citing that the agreements fall short of pre-2007 levels.

Meanwhile, Stellantis, the parent company of Chrysler, is offering voluntary buyouts to about half of its white-collar workers in the country—specifically, 6,400 out of 12,700 employees with over five years of service. 

The move is aimed at reducing the workforce and cutting costs for its North American operations.