Ford will add 1,550 workers at four different plants in order to create the highly-publicized aluminum F-150 pickup truck.
Of the 1,550 new jobs, 900 will be added for Ford's truck plant in Kansas City and the rest will be split among three stamping, auto parts and axle plants near Detroit, according to Reuters.
Back in 2007, the United Auto Workers union and the three major U.S. automakers, including Ford, reached an agreement to pay new employees at a rate less than veteran UAW workers. This was decided on to allow the U.S. automakers to be more competitive with foreign brans with U.S. assembly plants.
The UAW and Ford also agreed that 20 percent of plant workers could be entry-level, or second-tier, employees, with exemptions for a parts plant and an axle plant near the Motor City and for new work "in-sourced" to the automaker due to lower labor fees.
Ford had exceeded the 20-percent level by January, according to Reuters.
Last month, the new aluminum F-150 accounted for 18 percent of overall F-150 sales. The F-150 is the main truck in the F-Series pickup trucks, which are the top-selling vehicles in North America. Ford has yet to announce how many of the new jobs are being added as a result of the initial sales numbers for the truck.
Ford also announced on Wednesday that for the first time it will promote union-represented workers from the lower entry-level wage to the salary that veteran plant workers make, according to Reuters.
New workers will be paid the entry-level wage of $15.78 per hour. Under current contract terms, those employees will receive 5 percent wage increases per year until they reach $19.28 per hour.
Workers hired in 2010 and promoted to a higher employment status have been earning $19.28 per hour. They will start making $28.50 due to their new status.
The automaker said about 300 and 500 workers will have been promoted before the end of the first quarter.
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