Ford Vehicle

Locals representing about half of Ford’s UAW workforce of about 54,000 had voted in favor of the contract by late Sunday. It would take a massive swing against the new deal to defeat it at this point. Most of the locals so far have reported rank-and-file members approving the pact in the range of 70 percent to as high as 91 percent, which was the margin reported Sunday at Michigan Truck Plant and Wayne Stamping and Assembly Plant.

Under the terms of the new tentative agreement, Ford agreed to keep open several U.S. factories in exchange for a new two-tier wage system that would allow the automaker to give new hires lower wages and fewer benefits than existing employees. UAW leaders also agreed to transfer responsibility for retiree health care to a new union-run trust fund and accepted new restrictions on the jobs bank program that continues to provide wages and benefits for idled workers.

Kansas City’s Stoufer said the contract sparked “a lot of talk among our members” before Sunday’s vote. “Some people, you know, they think the UAW should never back up and they voted against it because of the wage system,” Stoufer said. “But others feel like we have to make the company competitive again.

Like a great labor leader once said ‘You can’t kill the golden goose.”‘ The results so far indicate far more support for the UAW-Ford contract than there was for either of the other automakers’ agreements. At General Motors Corp., 66 percent of production workers and 64 percent of skilled-trades employees voted to ratify the new contract last month. Only 56 percent of production workers and 51 percent of skilled-trades workers at Chrysler LLC approved their deal.