Ford workers threaten to strike over ‘inadequate’ pay deal offer

FORD staff are threatening to strike over what union chiefs claim is an inadequate pay offer for thousands of car workers across the country.

Unite, the UK’S largest union, is threatening to ballot workers on strike action after pay talks with Ford collapsed. The union has demanded talks through conciliation service Acas, threatening a strike ballot if the US car giant refuses.

Ford has put forward a new pay deal for 3,000 workers and management. Unite said Ford had offered workers a one-off payment equal to 5pc of their salary for 2024, rather than a pay increase. Managers have been offered the chance of a bonus rather than a fixed pay rise, angering unions who say they are facing a cost of living crisis.

Ford is also proposing changes to its staff absence policy, which has also angered unions. Ninety per cent of workers have rejected the offer.

Workers at the centre of the dispute are based at factories and offices in Dunton, Stratford, Dagenham, Daventry and Halewood.

Sharon Graham, Unite general secretary, said: “Ford is acting out of corporate greed with its offers of oneoff payments and variable bonuses. It is extremely profitable and can fully afford to put forward proper no strings pay offers for these workers.

“Unite does not tolerate attacks on our members’ jobs, pay or conditions and Ford’s salaried and managerial staff have their union’s full support.”

A Ford spokesman said: “Ford has been in pay negotiations with employee representatives since the end of last year, as its previous two-year deal ends.

“Whilst trade union members have voted internally at a members vote to reject the company’s offer, Ford remains willing to continue dialogue through our established bargaining frameworks on the fair and balanced offer made.”

Ford faced a period of intense industrial action last year in the US, when workers from the United Auto Workers (UAW) went on strike for six weeks.

The dispute was resolved after Ford offered a record pay rise. The disruption ultimately cost Ford $1.3bn (£1bn) in lost operating earnings after making 80,000 fewer cars than it would have done without the industrial action.

Ford last year announced plans to cut a fifth of its UK workforce between 2023 and 2025, leading to the loss of 1,300 jobs. It was part of a restructuring across Europe. Many of the job losses will fall on the research site in Dunton, at the centre of the latest pay dispute.