DETROIT (AP) — Ford Motor Co. will pay its U.S. factory workers a $6,000 signing bonus and add thousands of U.S. factory jobs as part of a four-year contract deal reached Tuesday with the United Auto Workers union.
Most Ford workers will get profit-sharing checks instead of annual raises under the deal, starting with a payment of around $3,700 this year. Workers will also get around $7,000 in inflation protection and lump-sum payments over the life of the contract, the UAW said.
Ford plans to add 5,750 U.S. factory jobs under the deal, on top of 6,250 it announced earlier this year, for a total of 12,000 jobs by 2015. It also pledged to invest $4.8 billion in its U.S. factories.
Ford union leaders approved the deal around noon Tuesday after a meeting in Detroit. The deal is subject to a vote by Ford's workers. Voting is expected next week.
If they agree to the contract, Ford's 41,000 hourly workers will get $1,000 more as a signing bonus than the $5,000 bonus GM workers got under an agreement ratified last month. The GM agreement also gives most workers profit-sharing payments instead of annual raises and promises 6,400 new or retained jobs.
John Fleming, Ford vice president of manufacturing, said most of the 5,750 additional hires will be paid a lower wage than Ford's older workers. The agreement is expected to lower Ford's labor costs, which are the highest in the U.S. auto industry. Ford currently pays most of its workers $58 per hour in wages and benefits.