Ford Kansas Workers Reject Contract Changes

After all seemed to fit into place and the revised contract proposed by the American manufacturer to the UAW scored approval after approval in Ford plants, an unlikely result was registered at Ford's Kansas City Assembly Plant: 92 percent of the workers voted against the respective changes.

According to DetNews, the outcome of the vote was not so unexpected given the meeting held prior to the vote, when UAW Vice President Bob King clashed with the workers.

"He spoke and was booed," one worker, who asked not to be identified, was quoted as saying by the source. "There were a lot of 'No's!' It was a very loud meeting."

The new deal, on which a provisional agreement has been reached earlier this month, was not detailed by the manufacturer, but it reportedly bans strikes over wages or benefits, freezes entry-level wages and changes work rules to require some skilled-trade employees to perform more than one job. The new contract is to be into effect until 2011.

Ford says the new agreement will cover over 41,000 UAW-represented employees in the United States.
So far, the agreement was backed by workers at Ford's Michigan and Wayne assembly plants, as well as three other Cleveland area plants. Even so, it would appear there's more than meets the eye to the apparent easy progress made so far.

"Initially there was a lot of pushback, but once people heard the details they supported it," Mike Gammella, Cleveland UAW Local president said on Friday. "They weren't doing cartwheels over it, but they understood."

Ford didn't react so far to the new vote, but it is expected will do so during the day.