LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Workers at Ford’s two Louisville vehicle plants voted against the proposed UAW contract by a 52-to-48 margin, bucking the national trend so far.
UAW figures show 5,766 Kentucky Truck Plant and Louisville Assembly Plant workers voted Sunday at the Galt House hotel in downtown Louisville. There are about 12,000 UAW workers between the city’s two plants, though it wasn’t immediately clear exactly how many were eligible to cast a ballot.
The inclusion of the Louisville votes lowers the overall percentage of UAW members in favor of the deal to 65%, from about 70% before Sunday, according to a UAW spreadsheet tracking the vote.
UAW Local 862 President Todd Dunn said the contract still seems likely to exceed the national majority needed to put the deal in place.
"I think the agreement will be ratified based upon the numbers and the data that's there," he said.
Louisville workers have a well-documented history of taking a negative tack on proposed Ford deals.
Local 862 production workers -- the primary group -- voted 55% against the 2023 agreement. But their opposition was in the 60s in during the 2019 and 2015 contract votes.
Workers interviewed after casting their ballots Sunday had various opinions on the deal.
China Jones, a 23-year worker at Louisville Assembly Plant, said the agreed 25% wage increase over the life of the four-year contract merely restores wages to where they would be had workers not agreed to a myriad of concessions during the Great Recession. She voted ‘No.’
“Older veterans like us made the sacrifices for them (the automakers),” she said. “And we don’t get nothing out of it.”
Chris Ireland, a Louisville Assembly Plant worker hired in 2012, said many long-tenured workers wanted a bigger upfront wage hike than the 11% promised in the deal.
"There's a lot of people who's gonna vote no. The retirees now and the ones that are gonna retire within the contract (cycle) are not getting anything at all," he said. Ireland declined to say how he voted.
Antonio Rodriguez, a 20-year-old line worker in his third year at Kentucky Truck Plant, supported the deal.
The deal announced Oct. 25 promises immediate 11% pay raises for auto workers, growing to 25% over the life of the four-year deal, meaning a typical wage of more than $40 per hour by 2027. Younger workers like Rodriguez will benefit from an accelerated path from entry to standard wages: three years instead of eight.
Workers hired after 2007 are also set for a big boost in retirement pay — 10% of wages, up from the current 6.4% — though the UAW failed to restore traditional defined-benefit pensions for post-2007 workers.
“It would have been nice but a lot of places lost pensions,” Rodriguez said. “I didn’t expect us to get that back.”
Ford Kentucky Truck Plant workers Tamekya Barbour, left, and her brother-in-law Travis Klotz at the UAW Local 862 contract ratification vote on Nov. 12, 2023 at the Galt House hotel in Louisville. Barbour and Klotz said they voted 'no' on the deal.
But for Kentucky Truck Plant worker Tamekya Barbour, a traditional pension is still worth fighting for. She voted no to the deal.
Barbour, 43, said she expects to retire from Ford.
"I just feel like a little bit more stability in retirement would be great for all of us," said Barbour, who joined Kentucky Truck eight years ago.
Another union goal was to restore company-paid health insurance for retirees, which was closed off to those hired after 2007. Instead, retirees are dur for annual payments of $500.
Travis Klotz, a 10-year worker at Kentucky Truck Plant, said he voted against the deal because of the lack of retiree healthcare.
"We don't get anything; you just basically quit, pretty much," he said.
“I feel like this contract — it can help a lot of people just now coming in. It gives the newer people like me a reason to come to Ford,” he said.
Joshua Jordan, a Louisville Assembly Plant worker who's been on the job three years, voted for the deal, saying he didn't think the union could extract any further gains from Ford.
"I'm confident that our president didn't leave something on the table for us," he said.
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