Ford Motor Company and the United Auto Workers union (UAW) have reached a tentative agreement on contract changes the automaker needs to bring labor costs in line with U.S. rivals, the company and the union said Tuesday. The UAW will present the tentative deal to its National Ford Council delegates on Tuesday afternoon in Detroit. If approved by the council, the union will put the pact to a member vote, it said. Ford and the UAW declined to release details of the change spending the UAW membership vote. The automaker said the changes would “help Ford improve its current and long-term competitiveness in the United States.” Ford, the only major U.S. automaker not to undergo a government-supported bankruptcy this year, has sought to bring its labor costs in line with those of General Motors and Chrysler, which won deeper union concessions earlier in 2009. The UAW reached four-year contract with all three U.S. automakers in 2007, but it has agreed to make unprecedented mid-contract concessions to the companies amid the severe recession and deep plunge in auto sales.
