Motor Company CEO Jim Farley said that the union's demands are unrealistic for companies to meet.
Union members voted last month to strike against Ford, General Motors and Stellantis unless a deal can be reached between the manufacturers and negotiators by 11:59 p.m. Thursday. Among the demands of the, which represents around 150,000 auto workers, are 40 percent pay increases for employees over a four-year contract—the same compensation hike that all Big Three CEOs have garnered in the past four years.
But while speaking with CNBC Thursday afternoon, Farley warned that meeting the UAW's demands could cause a nearly $16 billion loss in company profits, and that Ford would have"gone bankrupt by now." United Auto Workers union members and others gather for a rally after marching in the Detroit Labor Day Parade on September 4, 2023, in Michigan. The clock is ticking for negotiators to reach a deal with manufacturers before the union goes on strike against the"Big Three" auto companies in the U.S."The average pay would be nearly $300,000 [per employee] for a four-day workweek," Farley said.
"Our fully tenured schoolteacher makes $66,000," he continued."Some of the military or firemen make mid-$50,000. This is four or five times, six times what they make. There's no way we can be sustainable as a company. That's why we put our proposal in two weeks ago to say, 'look, you want us to choose bankruptcy over supporting our workers.'"