Ford-UAW Deal Shows Detroit the Way Forward

Compromise reveals Detroit's 'dinosaurs' can adapt to survive

By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff

Posted Mar 10, 2009 1:39 AM CDT

(Newser) – The deal hammered out between Ford and the UAW offers Detroit a rare glimpse of hope for the future, Jim Jelter writes in MarketWatch. The deal, ratified by workers yesterday, lets Ford pay half its health-care costs for workers in shares instead of cash, binding workers fortunes' closer to the company and showing lawmakers that unions are willing to take a share of the burden in hard times, writes Jelter.

The deal will serve as a handy template for GM and Chrysler's own talks with the UAW, Jelter writes, and shows Ford to be the Detroit automaker furthest down the road to recovery. "It's hard to be enthusiastic over today's labor deal since it's the product of hard times," writes Jelter. "But it shows union stiffs and management can change their ways when it finally dawns on them that they face mutual annihilation if they don't."

[Images (2)]

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In this 2007 file photo, UAQ President Ron Gettelfinger, left, and Ford Motor Co. Chairman Bill Ford shake hands to open their contract talks at Ford World Headquarters. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio, file)

New Ford F-150 trucks roll off assembly line at the Dearborn Truck Assembly in MIchigan. Ford's UAW workers have agreed to benefit cuts to keep the company afloat. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

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In the Jurassic Park of Detroit, Ford is emerging as the dinosaur furthest along the road toward restructuring.
- Jim Jelter

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Ford-UAW Deal Shows Detroit the Way Forward