Local 2000 Overwhelmingly Supports New Ford Contract

U.A.W. Local 2000 workers overwhelmingly supported a new national contract, 999 to 346, on Oct. 18. The union provides employees for Avon Lake’s Ohio Assembly Plant.

Avon Lake had extended the voting deadline for the national contract from Sunday after many workers did not show up to vote. According to the Local 2000’s website, voting was extended “in order to accommodate all of our brothers and sisters who may not have received notification of the National Contract Ratification due to the two-week shutdown.”

Local 2000 president Jerome Williams said the contract isn’t perfect.

“People are saying there is room for improvement, but they’ll vote in favor of this contract because it means jobs,” Williams told the New York Times on Oct. 18.

Nationally, Ford employs approximately 40,600 workers. Avon Lake’s vote helped shift the national U.A.W. vote from 53 percent against the contract on Oct. 14 to 64 percent in favor by yesterday morning.

The contract, which runs from 2012-15, stipulates 12,000 new positions, $6.2 million in factory upgrades , profit sharing and a bonus. Wage increases were not offered. Workers in Kentucky, Lima and Michigan also voted last night.  

On Oct. 4, Ford announced it would invest $128 million into the Ohio Assembly Plant to build medium-duty trucks and motor-home chassis.

“Once again this assure we are going to have a vehicle,” Zuber said following the announcement. “It’s great news for Avon Lake and Lorain County as well as Ohio.”

No timeline for a new vehicle, or what specific vehicle would be added, has been announced, nor has there been confirmation that the Avon Lake site would add jobs.

Ford Motor Co. is and accounts for approximately 25 percent of the city’s income tax revenue.