The Detroit-based auto industry could face significant threats over the next four years: tighter regulation, soft demand and tougher competition. High costs from union labor won't be one of them. A successful ratification vote by Ford Motor Co. hourly workers, following ratifications at General Motors Co. and Chrysler Corp., seals the four-year wage and benefit deal between the Detroit Three automakers and the United Auto Workers union. "Detroit automakers haven't solved everything. Competition with the [foreign] transplants is still very difficult," said Sean McAlinden, a labor economist with the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Michigan. "But the UAW contract is no longer the strategic threat it's been."
Read Article