“We've been waiting for this day for a long time,” said Jason Williams, a union bargaining representative at the plant. “This is really huge for us because this is a long-term investment,” said Newsome, 28, a third-generation Ford worker. He's hoping the company will bring him back to work as it builds more space and adds workers. News of the expansion couldn't come any sooner for Cody Newsome, a skilled trades apprentice on layoff at the factory, which now makes large vans and trucks. Galhotra says it now has a bright future. The factory has been on the edge of closure for much of its life but has managed to survive. "It's hard to say what the employment level needs to be.”Īutomakers have been converting temporary workers to full-time status with higher pay to attract entry-level workers during the recent labor shortage, Dziczek said.įord wouldn't give details of the commercial EV to be built at the Ohio Assembly Plant by mid-decade. “There are so many moving pieces," she said.
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Plus there will be worker retirements over the next decade during the transition, Dziczek said. Automakers are producing many of their own EV parts such as axles and electric motors in North America to avoid pandemic-related supply chain disruptions overseas, creating new jobs.
Like other automakers, Ford finds itself adding workers to build both internal combustion and electric vehicles as the industry makes a transition to battery power, said Kristin Dziczek, a policy adviser with the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago who follows the industry.Īlthough studies show that automakers will need fewer workers to build electric vehicles because there are fewer moving parts, it doesn't necessarily mean big layoffs down the road, Dziczek said. In addition, the Mustang Mach-E SUV and E-Transit vans are sold out for the year, Galhotra said.
About two-thirds of those contacted so far are converting, but the company said it didn't have an exact number. “This is the first time in my career that we were expanding the plant before the plant was built.”įord stopped taking reservations for the F-150 Lightning at 200,000, and it's now converting reservations to orders. “The reservations were so much higher than the (production) capacity that we had put in,” Galhotra said. Kumar Galhotra, president of Ford Blue, the company's division that makes internal combustion vehicles, said the EV investments are needed in part because Ford underestimated demand for EVs.Īs soon as Ford opened reservations for the electric F-150, it began planning to expand the Dearborn plant that makes them, he said. It's part of Ford's plan to be able to make 2 million electric vehicles per year globally by 2026. The company also will add 600 jobs at a new parts packaging facility in Monroe, Michigan, and another 600 at several Michigan component plants. And Ford's Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn will see investment and jobs so it can build more F-150 Lightning electric pickups to meet unexpectedly high demand. A plant in Flat Rock south of Detroit will make a new version of the Mustang muscle car. plans to add 2,000 jobs at three assembly plants, and another 1,200 at other facilities.Ī factory in the Detroit suburb of Wayne that now builds the Ranger midsize pickup will see investment and jobs to make a new Ranger. Reform is essential to ensure that the UAW has place at the table as the industry goes through more profound economic and technological changes.In Michigan, Ford Motor Co. "This is testament to the importance of having a strong institution behind the workers which is resilient enough to survive problematic leaders. The next step for the UAW, after ratification, is to re-examine its governance structure to see what reforms are necessary to become a more transparent and democratic union. Taking a step back to reflect more broadly on this event, it shows the institutional strength available to the UAW even when its leadership is trying to climb out of the throes of a major scandal," he said. Marick Masters, a business professor at Wayne State University who specializes in labor issues, said the tentative agreement "represents a significant step forward for the UAW and its membership in troubling times. If they do, the proposal would then face a ratification vote by the approximately 47,200 FCA workers represented by the UAW. The proposal now goes to the UAW FCA National Council, where local union leaders are scheduled to meet Wednesday to decide whether to recommend it to the membership.
The agreement potentially starts the last lap of months of union and automaker contract wrangling. The UAW and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles have reached a proposed tentative agreement that adds nearly 8,000 jobs over the life of the deal.
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