Gettelfinger on Details of the UAW's Contract With Ford

This morning I spoke to Ron Gettelfinger the UAW president about the UAW deal with Ford. I’ve interviewed Ron on multiple occasions where we’ve specifically talked about the pending UAW deal with Ford. When I read the details this morning, I wasn’t surprised to see Ford drive a hard bargain to get the same kind of concessions that GM and Chrysler did in order to remain competitive but, I was surprised that the UAW didn’t get a stronger deal given Ford’s performance this year. Ford has gained a full point of market share in the United States this year alone. European market share exceeded 10% fueled by a 12.4% rise in September European sales, the company’s best market share performance since September of 2001 and while they rank 12th in China’s auto sales, vehicle sales in China were up 79% in the 3rd quarter from a year earlier.

I pressed Gettelfinger very hard on the quality of the deal because many UAW workers are not too thrilled about the concessions. Make no mistake about it, the UAW members have made tremendous concessions. In fact, at one point, Gettelfinger said, “It’s been tough in the auto industry and the workers have been beat up a lot and it seems like no matter what we do the workers continue to get beat up.”

On the quality of the deal and the number of concessions made, Gettelfinger had this to say, “We want to see Ford be profitable and we’re hoping that they have a good quarter. If not, then a very good month here in October. And to us it’s important that we level the playing field between Ford, GM and Chrysler. We have pattern bargaining and we wanted to take advantage of this opportunity. I think from the standpoint of the average Ford worker out there, they’re a lot smarter than the average person might give them credit. They understand that because of the bankruptcy GM reduced a lot of debt, they were able to unload dealers, they were able to put facilities into the old company, they cut new contracts with new suppliers. Ford is working in an entirely different environment from that standpoint so it’s important to us as a union that we continue to work with Ford as we have in the past. This agreement is an opportunity for us to ensure jobs, investment and job security in the future.”

Take a look at the rest of our interview especially when I press him on specific details in the UAW contract with Ford that guarantees jobs and developing new vehicles in Ford’s pipeline.