Ford Motor Co. said it has boosted its wage increase in a new contract proposal to the United Auto Workers union aimed at ending a 19-day strike.
Ford said its seventh offer to the union includes a wage increase of more than 20%, which the automaker said would put its 57,000 UAW-represented workers in the top quarter of all US jobs, hourly and salaried. Ford previously proposed a 20% raise.
“We’ve put an offer on the table that will be costly for the company, especially given our large American footprint and UAW workforce, but one that we believe still allows Ford to invest in the future,” Jim Farley, Ford’s chief executive officer, said in a statement Tuesday.
The UAW wants to emerge from the strike with at least a 30% pay raise, Bloomberg News has reported, down from the 40% hike it initially proposed.
In the new proposal, Ford said it would shorten the time it takes new workers to reach the top wage to less than four years, from eight currently. It also is offering to boost contributions to workers’ 401K savings fund, which the company said would enable a worker starting today to accrue more than $1 million by retirement.
The UAW is seeking the restoration of traditional pensions. The union didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
(Updates with additional details of Ford’s offer in the fifth and sixth paragraphs.)
