Ford and its joint venture partner SK On will raise wages at two planned electric vehicle battery factories in Kentucky and Tennessee in an effort to calm striking auto workers. Maybe that offer is not enough.
The joint venture, known as BlueOval SK, said it is offering higher salaries for maintenance technicians and associate maintenance technicians, ranging from $24 to $37.50 per hour depending on experience. These jobs are now available at the BlueOval SK battery plants in Stanton, Tennessee and Glendale, Kentucky. BlueOval SK said it conducted a comparative salary and benefits study to determine employee salaries and benefits. BlueOvalSK also said hourly employees will be eligible to receive regular salary increases every six months and will be eligible to receive bonuses of up to 5% annually based on position and performance.
“These new higher salaries are more competitive and in line with the current market,” BlueOval SK Human Resources said.
Principal Neva McGruder Burke said in a statement.
United Autoworkers has moved closer to a deal with automakers GM, Ford and Stellantis, securing pay increases of between 20% and 23%, guaranteed cost-of-living adjustments and even securing a faster path to for temporary employees to obtain full-time status, a key step. friction point. The UAW expanded its strike on Monday to include Ford’s truck plant in Kentucky after claiming that the automaker “came to the table with the same offer they presented to us two weeks ago.” “It was an unacceptable measure that provoked a strong and immediate response.”
One of the last remaining issues preventing a deal is a major one: The UAW wants the four-year framework agreement with automakers to include electric vehicle battery plants in current and future joint ventures.
It’s a concession the UAW already got from GM. UAW President Shawn Fain announced last week that GM agreed to include electric vehicle battery production work in the union’s national framework agreement with the company.
“For months we have been told that this is impossible. We’ve been told that the future of electric vehicles must be a race to the bottom. “We called their bluff.” Fain said October 6 in a video that was broadcast live on Facebook. “It cannot be understated what this will mean for our members. The plan was to reduce engine and transmission plants and permanently replace them with low-wage battery jobs. We had a different plan. And our plan is to win at GM. And we hope it also wins at Ford and Stellantis.”
UAW did not respond to requests for comment.
