The automaker also has invested $1.4 billion more than what’s outlined in the current four-year pact and converted roughly 14,100 temporary workers to permanent status since 2019.
The contract calls for temporary workers to represent no more than 8 percent of Ford’s hourly work force; they are currently only 3 percent. Ford is believed to have a significantly lower percentage of temporary workers than GM or Stellantis.
Ford enters its negotiations with the UAW, which formally begin Friday, looking to build on those job and investment commitments. But it’s also seeking ways to manage costs and maintain flexibility in its manufacturing footprint as it transitions to electric vehicles.
Compared to foreign automakers that have nonunion workers, Ford has a roughly $9-an-hour labor cost gap. All in, the company said it spends an average of $112,000 on wages and benefits per hourly worker.
The UAW, meanwhile, will push for significant raises and additional benefits for its members. UAW President Shawn Fain has argued that Ford, GM and Stellantis can afford the union’s demands after making record profits in recent years.
Fain has said he will push to reinstate cost-of-living adjustments that were dropped during the 2008-09 recession and to end a tiered wage system that takes workers years to reach top pay of about $32 an hour.
Roughly 80 percent of Ford’s hourly union workers will be making top wages by the time the current contract expires in September, according to sources.
