CHICAGO (AP) — Workers at a Chicago Ford plant have overwhelmingly rejected a tentative four-year contract agreement.
Grant Morton is chairman of the United Auto Workers Union local at the Torrence Avenue plant. He says 77 percent of the more than 2,300 workers voted against the contract.
Morton says the union was told Thursday to prepare for a possible national strike.
The union's 41,000 Ford workers will continue voting into next week.
Workers at a plant in south suburban Chicago Heights will vote starting Thursday.
In Michigan, 51 percent of more than 2,500 workers in one local union voted no.
The contract called for a $6,000 signing bonus and profit-sharing instead of annual raises. It also created 1,100 jobs in Chicago, but those new workers would be paid less than existing staffers.