Nearly 8,000 UAW-represented Ford employees received a substantial raise this past Labor Day.
On average, these employees now earn $4.33 more per hour, or $9,000 a year. The increase could top $10,000 a year with overtime. The pay hikes were negotiated by Ford and the UAW in 2019 to shorten the time it takes workers to reach the average top wage rate of $32 an hour.
“These pay raises are an example of Ford’s commitment to improving the lives of our hourly workforce,” said Bryce Currie, Ford vice president, manufacturing. “The negotiating teams nicknamed this deal ‘23 Jump Street’ because in 2023 a significant number of UAW-Ford team members would see a jump in pay.”
Normally, growing into the top wage rate takes eight years, but with this agreement, 8,000 employees reached the top wage rates with as little as four years on the job.
The top wage rate differs by the specific type of job an employee does. On average, it is $32 per hour. With this move, 80 percent of all Ford’s UAW-represented hourly employees are now at the top wage rate. Those at the top wage rate are earning higher wages than 90 percent of all hourly employees in the U.S., according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Permanent hourly manufacturing employees were eligible for the pay increase if they were hired prior to the 2019 contract date and were earning at least $24.40 per hour as of September 1, 2023.
Ford has exceeded its job and investment commitments for the last three contracts, recently creating or retaining 5,600 jobs beyond 8,500 committed and investing $1.4 billion beyond $6 billion committed in the 2019 contract.
The company converted more than 14,100 employees from temporary employment to full-time permanent roles during the past four years – and made all new hourly employees eligible for health care benefits from their first day on the job effective June 13, 2022.
Ford launched a $1 billion five-year plan to upgrade the workplace experience in its plants, starting in 2022.