Union members at Ford, Stellantis and General Motors have ratified a new 4½-year contract, securing 11% wage increases after a six-week strike in September and October.
The United Auto Workers said about 67% of UAW-represented Ford workers voted in favour of the contract, which will run until 30 April 2028.
Voting officially ends on Friday, but with about 57,000 unionised workers at Ford, the contract appeared headed for easy ratification.
The contracts were negotiated after UAW members went on strike from 15 September to the end of October.
Union members will receive a total pay increase of 25% over the life of the agreement. The new contracts also restore cost-of-living adjustments, allow workers to reach maximum wages in three years instead of eight, and protect their right to strike over plant closures.
Both the UAW and the automakers described the deals as “record” contracts based on these wage increases. The union also said its members were winning back some of the benefits they agreed to give up after the Great Recession to help keep the automakers alive.
GM workers approved the contract, but by a much narrower margin than Ford workers, with about 55 per cent of workers voting in favour.
While UAW President Shawn Fain has called the contacts a victory for workers, he has also said they are part of a larger plan to win back more benefits in the long term.
According to the UAW’s ratification vote tracker, Stellantis workers were on track to approve the deal by margins similar to those at Ford. With 17,391 votes counted as of Thursday evening ET, about 66% of the ballots had been cast in favour of accepting the contract.
While the general terms of the contracts are similar, workers at Detroit’s Big Three automakers are voting independently to accept or reject them.