UAW family. I'm excited and honored to be joined today by Vice President Chuck Browning as we announce a major victory in the stand up strike. Today, we reached a tentative agreement with Ford. [00:00:16] For months, we've said that record profits mean record contracts, and UAW family, our stand up strike has delivered. >> Speaker 2: There it is. He said it that is, again, President of the UAW, Shawn Fein, saying they have [00:00:34] a tentative agreement with Ford effectively ending this strike if the vote goes through, specifically against Ford, against Stellantis and GM, TBD. What's in the deal? The gains are valued at more than four times the gains from the last UAW contract [00:00:50] in 2019, provide more in base wage increases than Ford workers have received in the past 22 years, the UAW said in a news release. Here is more from Fain as he lays out the parts of the agreement. >> Speaker 3: Between wage increases, Cola, [00:01:06] annual bonuses to retirees, and other economic gains. There is more value for our members in each individual year of this agreement than the entirety of the 2019 agreement. [00:01:21] This deal puts more money on the table than the 2019 agreement four times over. So when we say historic, we mean it. We have won a 25% general wage increase over the course of [00:01:37] this agreement with Cola. We expect the top wage rate to increase by over 30% to above $40 an hour. Our starting wage rate will rise 68%. >> Speaker 2: Starting wage, 68% higher, that's huge. [00:01:55] Cola, by the way, is cost of living adjustments. Again, a little bit more on the details. The agreement includes an 11% wage increase the first year and totals 25% over a four and a half year contract, plus $5,000 ratification bonus and cost of living adjustments, [00:02:12] according to two sources familiar with the deal, not authorized to speak publicly. This is not all that the UAW wanted, right? So they could still vote it down because they were wanting, I think, 36% wage increase, they got 25%. [00:02:27] But still, that's pretty big considering where Ford started, I believe it was something like 9, 10%. The agreement also provides a raise of more than 150% to the lowest paid worker at Ford over the life of the agreement. Some workers are gonna get an immediate 85% increase upon ratification. [00:02:46] It reinstates major benefits lost during the Great Recession, including that cost-of-living allowance and a three year wage progression. Kills different pay rates, or tiers, for workers. This, again, has been huge across every sector, not just auto workers. Improving retirement benefits for current retirees, those workers with pensions, [00:03:04] and those who have 401K plans. It includes the right to strike over plant closures. And that's really big, right? Because, again, this is the line that Republicans have been saying, are you gonna strike if you unionize, you're gonna lose the plants. Well, apparently in the previous deal, [00:03:21] you weren't even allowed to go on strike over a plant closure. Now people can shut it down, workers can shut it down immediately. One worker, James Wright, 38, of Brownston, said he's ready to get back to work. With a 25% wage increase over the life of the contract, Wright said he'd be able to afford milk, groceries, and gas. [00:03:39] Sounds like he's living a pretty decadent life, what? No, that's just basic cost of living. Waz, your reactions. I mean, this has been one of the more militant strikes and yet they didn't have to go on strike all at once, right? It was targeted. It was kind of secret. [00:03:55] You don't know which plant's going on strike next. >> Speaker 4: Again, I say this every time I come on the main show. This is about the only good news in American politics that's out there. To be honest, the increased worker militancy throughout the country, we've [00:04:12] seen it at countless other places is the best news that we got because guess what? It's actually bearing results. This sort of go along to get along, the bosses are gonna take care of us mentality never works. [00:04:28] You will not see the requisite gains because, again, as Shawn Fain said, record profit should mean record contracts. The workers who are generating all of this profit, all of these riches for [00:04:43] Ford and GM and Chrysler, they should be able to share in those profits. That's the promise of work, is that you bust your ass. You should be able to share in some of the riches. And this type of strike is the only type of thing that will ensure this thing. [00:05:03] And so, yeah, I'm happy for these guys and I'm sure the other two companies will fall in line at some point soon here. >> Speaker 2: I mean, I think that's a really important development given that you look at the AMPTP in Hollywood, right? And the ongoing strike with SAG and [00:05:20] all the actors after writers were able to get a deal. The AMPTP is just sort of all the big streaming studios in one thing. And here you have, let's talk about divide and conquer, right? This is the UAW being, we're gonna negotiate with you, then we're gonna [00:05:37] negotiate with you, and then we're gonna use you as leverage against you. I mean, they're in the driver's seat here. They're the ones calling the shots. And I think it's incredible how they can play the different companies off one another as they should. [00:05:53] Stellantis and GM have said they're gonna remain focused on their negotiations. Shawn Fein has said the UAW strikes are gonna continue. And Chuck Browning, who's the vice president to Fein, says, we're gonna go back to work at Ford. That is, if there's a deal and it gets voted in to keep the pressure on Stellantis and GM. [00:06:10] The last thing they want is for Ford to get back to full capacity while they mess around and lag behind, right? They don't wanna be the company that know the one dragging their heels, it hurts their productivity, their competition. >> Speaker 4: And by the way, Francesca, the reason why they've got this power and [00:06:30] this leverage is mainly because the companies are rich as hell. They're selling a bunch of cars for very expensive. I bought a Ford last December. It was not cheap, it was barely affordable, them things was flying off the lot, okay? [00:06:47] And so that's why, because if work and production actually slows down, it's going to cost these people. It's gonna cost them more money than it would if they would just pay people what they're owed and what they deserve. And that's why they're in the catbird seat. [00:07:03] It's because these companies are making money via their labor. That's why they're in the driver's seat right now. >> Speaker 2: Absolutely, and I really think that it is- >> No pun intended [LAUGH]. >> Speaker 2: Yeah, maybe I don't watch enough mainstream news, but I really hope the people like Shawn Fein and workers, the one we just heard from, [00:07:21] I hope they are in mainstream. >> Speaker 6: Let me pull up my New York Times. >> Speaker 2: Yeah, CNN.com. Is Shawn Fein up there? >> Speaker 6: Did you see that's on the front, I'm not seeing it. >> Speaker 6: No. >> I'm not seeing this beautiful bald dome. I'm not seeing it. >> [LAUGH]