My, that went downhill quickly.

United Auto Workers at a large Ford facility in Chicago voted 2-to-1 against a proposed contract with the automaker, according to the local union’s Facebook page (via Automotive News). According to the final tally, more than 2,000 workers at the Chicago plant voted against the contract, with only 99o to approve the deal.

According to Automotive News, ratification hinges on massive approval at Ford’s F-150 plant in Dearborn, Michigan, where 60 percent of workers there would need to ratify the deal for ultimate approval.

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Ford workers in Kansas City voted down a proposed contract between the automaker and the United Auto Workers, the local union reported on its Facebook page (via Automotive News). Kansas City produces many of the company’s profitable F-150 trucks.

According to the final tally, 54 percent of union workers and just over 50 percent of skilled trades workers voted against the proposed deal. The defeat was the first major setback for the company, whose workers in Wayne and other plants overwhelmingly voted to approve the deal. Last week, several hundred workers at Ford’s axle plant voted against the proposed deal.

Workers in Kansas City threatened to strike last month when it said Ford wasn’t negotiating in good faith with workers at that plant. Read More >

Detroit automakers may be betting high-profit SUVs and trucks are a better fit for their domestic plants as those automakers shift production away from cars to make room for larger, high-margin vehicles.

Ford and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles will largely shift production of their cars to Mexico and bring more trucks and SUVs to North American facilities, according to their contracts with the United Auto Workers,  Automotive News reported.

The report consolidates production planning schedules included in UAW contracts with domestic automakers, which shows automakers’ plans to move some of their cars to Mexico or overseas. Of the Big Three, General Motors will sell the most domestically produced cars in North America, including the Malibu, Impala, Sonic, Bolt and Volt, although the small-car plant recently announced a slowing production schedule. Ford will still produce the Mustang and Fusion at its Flat Rock plant in Michigan.  Read More >

United Auto Workers in Wayne, Michigan initially approved their four-year contract with Ford last week, signaling the first major victory for the the tentative deal, Automotive News reported.

Bill Johnson, who is UAW Local 900 president for the facility, told Automotive News that 81 percent of production workers and 83 percent of skilled trades workers approved the contract. Under terms of the contract, Wayne would likely see production of a new pickup for Ford — likely the Ranger — and new SUV, which could be called a Bronco, in exchange for production of two cars going to Mexico.

Under the deal, Ford workers would also see pay raises, a $10,000 signing bonus, annual bonuses and $700 million in plant improvements under terms of the deal.

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On Thursday, United Auto Workers Vice President Cindy Estrada told local union officials that she would recommend to union President Dennis Williams that the labor group ratify its contract with General Motors despite its rejection by skilled trades workers, according to Automotive News.

On Friday, Williams announced on the UAW’s website that the union would go back to GM to discuss those workers’ issues with the proposed contract that was approved more than one week ago. On Friday afternoon, Estrada announced in a separate letter that she would support further negotiation with the automaker over skilled trades workers’ concerns.

Um, what’s going on?

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General Motors announced Thursday it will import a Buick crossover from China to the United States by the end of 2016, much to the UAW’s disappointment.

According to the Detroit Free Press, the crossover in question, the Envision, is currently produced at a facility in the Shandong province. The Buick brand itself is doing well for itself in China, where it’s GM’s best-known brand, and in the U.S., where the brand is experiencing rapid growth as of late. In both instances, the main draw for Buick is its small and medium crossovers and SUVs.

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The United Auto Workers in its latest proposed contract with Ford will protect workers from discrimination based on those workers’ gender identities or expressions, a potentially sweeping measure for a normally conservative industry.

According to the contract, the proposed agreement would protect any employee regardless of “race, color, national origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, union activity, religion, or … any employee with disabilities.”

The UAW’s contract with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles included for the first time language that covered gender identity for those workers. Read More >

Ford fanboys (this one included) will finally get the Wrangler-fighting sport utility they’ve been yearning for since the demise of the Blue Oval’s two-door SUV in the mid ’90s.

According to the Detroit Free Press, Ford is looking to get back into the newly re-energized midsize truck game with its global Ranger, and that truck brings with it a sport utility based on the same architecture. It’s widely believed that SUV will be none other than Bronco.

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Rank-and-file Ford workers may get their first glimpses Monday at a newly proposed contract between the automaker and the United Auto Workers union, the Detroit News reported.

According to the report, Ford workers may be offered a $10,000 signing bonus to approve the contract; a $1,750 annual bonus payout, similar to one in the proposed General Motors contract; a $70,000 early retirement buyout for senior workers; a $9 billion investment plan for Ford factories; and, pay increases for veteran Tier 1 and newer Tier 2 workers.  Read More >

The United Auto Workers union announced late Friday that, while the majority of its 52,000 membership voted “Yes” to the tentative agreement, skilled trades workers voted 59.5 percent against the deal.

“The UAW has not deemed the tentative agreement ratified,” said the union.

It was previously reported the tentative agreement may not be ratified due to skilled trades workers voting down the agreement.

UAW production members voted 58.3-percent in favor of the proposed contract and 55.43-percent of total voting members agreed to the proposal, but the contract can not be ratified until it is passed by skilled trades members. Read More >

Ford and the United Auto Workers union announced Friday they’d reached a tentative agreement which, if ratified, will become the rules of work for Ford’s 52,000 unionized employees for the next four years.

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With hours remaining until voting ends on the tentative contract between General Motors and the UAW, support for the contract continues to grow.

According to The Detroit News, over 80 percent of GM’s 52,600 hourly employees have had a chance to look over and vote upon the agreement, including those in Lordstown Assembly in Ohio, and Lansing Delta Township Assembly in Michigan.

Among Lansing’s over 3,000 employees, 54 percent of production and 43 percent of skilled trades workers voted in favor, per UAW Local 602. Over in Lordstown, Local 1714 (Stamping, Complex West) found healthy majorities in favor of the contract — 67.9 percent production, 57.4 percent skilled trades — while Local 1112 saw 72 percent of production and 29 percent of skilled trades workers voting the same. Both unions represent over 4,100 Lordstown employees.

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United Auto Workers at General Motors’ Fort Wayne, Indiana facility overwhelmingly agreed to a proposed contract with the automaker that would raise wages and eventually close the gap between veteran workers and employees hired after 2007, Reuters reported.

Workers at the facility, who build full-size trucks for GM, approved the contract by nearly 60 percent. Workers at other GM facilities, including Wentzville, Missouri and Spring Hill, Tennessee, approved the deal by similar margins, paving the way for ultimate approval for the labor contract.

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The Janesville, Wisconsin, General Motors assembly plant that was shuttered six years ago will likely officially close, according to letters in a proposed agreement between United Auto Workers and the automaker, Automotive News reported.

The plant, which was opened in 1919 and once produced large SUVs such as the Chevrolet Suburban/GMC Yukon XL, employed as many as 7,000 workers in the 1970s. Hundreds of workers were sent to other plants when the plant suspended operation in 2009, six months before GM’s announced bankruptcy.

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A proposed contract between the United Auto Workers and General Motors will eventually end a tiered pay system divided between veteran auto workers and employees hired after 2008, and provide annual bonuses and substantial raises for the first time in a decade. The automaker has offered an $8,000 signing bonus to approve the deal.

The proposed deal outlines the automaker’s $8.3 billion investment in American plants — above its $6.4 billion improvements already announced — over the life of the contract. The deal was posted on the UAW website Thursday.

The deal for GM workers, which is sweeter than the deal hammered out between the UAW and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, will be reviewed and voted on in coming weeks.

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