BROOK PARK, Ohio — The Ford Motor Company has announced that all of its over 3,000 employees that were affected by layoffs related to the six-week-long United Auto Workers strike have been called back to work. That number includes the final 186 employees at Cleveland Engine Plant No. 1 in Brook Park who returned to work on Monday.
On Nov. 18, the UAW announced it had ratified a new agreement with Ford and Stellantis that will be in effect until April 2028. A similar deal was approved with General Motors days earlier. The companies agreed to dramatically raise pay for top-scale assembly plant workers, with increases and cost-of-living adjustments that would translate into 33% wage gains. Top assembly plant workers are to receive immediate 11% raises and will earn roughly $42 an hour when the contracts expire.
Ford says all of the 16,600 employees that were on strike were called back by Oct. 30. The three assembly plants that were on strike are back on full production schedules.
After months of negotiations failed to produce a deal, the UAW kicked off strikes on Sept. 15 at one assembly plant at each company. The union later extended the strike to parts warehouses and other factories to try to intensify pressure on the automakers.
"Our production system is highly interconnected, which means the UAW’s targeted strike strategy had knock-on effects for facilities that were not directly targeted for a work stoppage," Ford said in a statement issued on Monday.
Over 370 employees were laid off from the Cleveland Engine Plant in early October. The 365-acre facility in Brook Park has been open since 1952 and currently employs approximately 1,834 workers, according to its website. The plant makes Ford's 2.0/2.3-liter EcoBoost I4 engines and 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6 engines.
Tentative agreements between the UAW and the Detroit automarkers were finally reached in late October.
The Associated Press contributed to this story
Previous Reporting:
- Ford and Stellantis workers join those at GM in approving contract settlement that ended UAW strikes
- GM becomes first major automaker to reach deal with auto workers union
- 'Anxiety is high': UAW workers react after hundreds laid off from Ford's Cleveland Engine Plant in Brook Park
- Ford lays off 372 workers at Cleveland Engine Plant in Brook Park