A Ford sign is shown at a dealership in Springfield, Pa., Tuesday, April 26, 2022. Ford Motor Co. is recalling certain 2004 to 2006 Ranger vehicles, Friday, May 5, 2023, because replacement front passenger air bag inflators may have been installed incorrectly. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a letter that the recall includes 231,942 vehicles. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)
By Tom Krisher
Autoworkers at the first Ford factory to go on strike have voted overwhelmingly in favor of a tentative contract agreement reached with the company.
Members of Local 900 at the Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, Michigan, west of Detroit voted 81% in favor of the four year-and-eight month deal, according to Facebook postings by local members on Thursday.
Two union officials confirmed the accuracy of the percentage Thursday. Neither wanted to be identified because the vote totals had not been made public.
About 3,300 UAW members went on strike at the plant Sept. 15 after the union's contract with Ford expired. They remained on the picket lines until Oct. 25, when the union announced the tentative deal with Ford.
Production workers voted 81% to ratify the deal, while skilled trades workers voted 90% in favor.
Voting at Ford will continue through Nov. 17.
Local union leaders from across the country at Jeep maker Stellantis are meeting in Detroit Thursday to get an explanation of the company's tentative agreement from UAW President Shawn Fain and Vice President Rich Boyer. If they endorse the contract, Fain and Boyer will explain it to members in an online presentation Thursday evening.
General Motors local leaders will meet on Friday, with another contract explanation on Friday evening.
The deals with all three companies are generally the same, although there are some differences. All give workers 25% general pay raises with 11% upon ratification. With cost of living pay, the raises will exceed 30% by the time the contracts end on April 30, 2028.
Workers began their strikes with targeted walkouts at all three automakers that grew during a six-week period in an effort to pressure the companies into a deal. GM was the last company to settle early Sunday morning.
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A Michigan judge is putting sponges in the hands of shoplifters and ordering them to wash cars in a Walmart parking lot when spring weather arrives. Genesee County Judge Jeffrey Clothier hopes the unusual form of community service discourages people from stealing from Walmart. The judge also wants to reward shoppers with free car washes. Clothier says he began ordering “Walmart wash” sentences this week for shoplifting at the store in Grand Blanc Township. He believes 75 to 100 people eventually will be ordered to wash cars this spring. Clothier says he will be washing cars alongside them when the time comes.
The State Department had been in talks with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to buy armored electric vehicles, but the plans have been put on hold by the Trump administration after reports emerged about a potential $400 million purchase. A State Department spokesperson said the electric car company owned by Musk was the only one that expressed interest back in May 2024. The deal with Tesla was only in its planning phases but it was forecast to be the largest contract of the year. It shows how some of his wealth has come and was still expected to come from taxpayers.
At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.
