Liam Denning, Columnist

The UAW Is Declaring Victory But Ford Won Too

For all the fiery rhetoric, the union and automaker have met in the middle. Shawn Fain's work is far from done.

October 26, 2023 at 2:20 PM UTC

Liam Denning is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering energy. A former banker, he edited the Wall Street Journal’s Heard on the Street column and wrote the Financial Times’s Lex column.

Factory workers and UAW union members forming a picket line outside the Ford Motor Kentucky Truck Plant earlier this month.
Photographer: Luke Sharrett/Getty Images North America

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It looks like Shawn Fain got enough and Ford Motor Co. held off enough. Wednesday evening’s announcement of a tentative agreement between the United Auto Workers and one of the Big Three should mean strikes will end soon. Ford’s striking UAW members return to work Thursday, ahead of votes to seal the deal, as a way to put pressure on General Motors Co. and Stellantis NV to quickly sign up, too. They have every reason to; GM, especially, with its stock languishing at levels last seen in the pandemic summer of 2020.

Moreover, Ford’s agreement looks like it leaves Detroit enough room to maneuver.