Ford Motor Company President and CEO Alan Mulally shakes hands with UAW Vice President Jimmy Settles during the UAW-Ford National Negotiations Opening Day Ceremony, marking the start of bargaining between the company and the union. (Photo by HB Meeks/Tell Us Detroit)

UAW-Ford open 2011 contract negotiations with traditional hand shake

The following statement is attributable to John Fleming, executive vice president, Global Manufacturing and Labor Affairs

DEARBORN, MI - “Today, we officially opened our 27th round of bargaining with the United Auto Workers. We also are reflecting upon our proud 70 year history of working together – a history of working with mutual trust and respect to effectively address difficult business challenges. We are committed to negotiating this year with the same transparency and honesty we always have upheld.



Although the fundamentals of our business have been steadily improving, it is more important than ever that we continue to look to the future, and not to the past. We simply cannot go back to the old way of doing business, which would threaten our momentum and hurt our ability to bring new investment and jobs into our U.S. plants. We can and will protect and grow jobs if we can compete effectively with other automakers in this country, as well as across the globe.

All of us at Ford look forward to our upcoming discussions with the UAW when we will have the opportunity to make some important decisions together that will help to create a stronger, more competitive, world-class company, which will benefit us all.”