Ford averts strike with tentative deal

Ford Motor Co. managed to avoid a strike when it reached a tentative agreement with the United Auto Workers on a U.S. labor contract Wednesday, but suppliers to General Motors Co. are still suffering from the sixweek walkout that halted production at more than 30 American factories.

The strike at GM ended Oct. 25 when more than 48,000 workers ratified a new four-year contract.

At Ford, the accord includes $6 billion of product investment in U.S. facilities and the creation or retention of more than 8,500 jobs, according to a statement released late Wednesday. The union will meet in Detroit on Friday with hundreds of local leaders to go over the deal. If they approve it, the deal will be put to a vote of 55,000 workers.

The Ford package is expected to follow the pattern in the GM contract, which included lump-sum payments and annual pay increases. As part of the proposed agreement, the automaker also will close an engine factory that employs 600 workers, according to people familiar with details of the deal who asked not to be identified.

The longest national strike in nearly half a century at GM will lower its earnings this year by about $2.9 billion. Its suppliers are feeling the pain as well.

Auto parts maker Aptiv on Wednesday reported a $30million hit to operating income in the third quarter. AK Steel Holding Corp. also cut its profit forecast. Supplier Delphi Technologies announced a four-year cost restructuring program Thursday after reporting “pretty rough numbers” for the third quarter, Chris McNally, an analyst with Evercore ISI, wrote to investors. Car seat maker Lear Corp. cut its 2019 profit and sales forecast last week.