The Nation - News from Sept. 17, 1987

Ford Motor Co. and the United Auto Workers neared agreement on a contract that would protect the jobs of Ford’s 104,000 UAW workers, union leaders said. Officers of UAW locals said they were told the agreement was almost finished, as negotiations continued under a precedent-setting extension of Ford’s contract with the UAW, which originally was to expire at midnight Monday. Ford proposed a contract that would guarantee the jobs of UAW workers on a plant-by-plant basis but would permit the company some leeway to not fill jobs that come open because of attrition, analysts and published reports said.