UAW Council Initials Ford Pact

The United Auto Workers union’s Ford National Council today unanimously approved a tentative three-year contract giving 104,000 U.S. hourly workers at Ford Motor Co. greater job security, higher wages and improved fringe benefits.

There had been little doubt the 200-member council, composed of UAW-Ford local union leaders around the country, would approve the pact. The proposed contract now goes up for a ratification vote among rank-and-file workers at 85 plants and facilities in 20 states.