Louisville’s Ford Union Ratifies New 4-Year Contract

Louisville's local United Auto Workers union has voted in favor of a new contract with Ford Motor Company. The last of the votes were counted Tuesday night and Louisville’s Local UAW 862 helped push for ratification of the agreement.Local UAW 862 voted with a slight majority of 53 percent to ratify the agreement, according to the local’s Facebook page. Ford and the UAW reached an agreement on Oct. 4 but workers had to ratify it with a majority vote. The contract promises more than $1.2 billion in investments at Ford’s two Kentucky assembly plants.The agreement covers around 41,000 Ford workers in the U.S. The UAW has now reached agreements with two of the three Detroit automakers. General Motors Company reached an agreement last month and Chrysler Group LLC will wrap up voting next week.Last week, some local unions in Chicago and Michigan shot down the contract and it was unclear which way the ratification of the contract would sway. Workers who opposed the agreement have voiced concern that the contract doesn’t give back some of the things they lost in previous agreements when Ford tried to remain independent of a federal bailout. Some concessions they gave up include annual raises, cost-of-living increases and additional holidays.Most workers won’t get annual raises under the contract, but they will get profit-sharing checks, and inflation adjustment payments through 2015.