DETROIT, Oct. 1 (UPI) -- A United Auto Workers official in Detroit blasted a televised news story for possibly setting up false hopes among rank-and-file workers at Ford Motor Co.
"These false rumors are irresponsible and unfair to our members. They are designed to intentionally create false expectations," UAW Vice President Jimmy Settles wrote in an online posting, the Detroit Free Press reported Saturday.
Settles was referring to a WDIV-TV, Detroit, news story that said Ford workers could expect a $7,500 signing bonus, far higher than the $5,000 agreed to recently in a four-year deal with General Motors.
UAW talks with Ford are continuing through the weekend.
Ford has made more than $14.2 billion in profits since 2008 and, unlike GM and Chrysler, avoided a government bailout to stay on its feet during the economic downturn.
"At Ford, we did not take a loan from the government and we were able to stay afloat during that very troublesome period. In fact, we have made more profit than the other two companies combined. That's what the Ford workers are looking at," Palemon Posey, 48, who works at a Ford plant in Dearborn, Mich., told the Free Press.
Concerning the $7,500 bonus, Ford employee Karin Kley Danke wrote on the company's Facebook page, "I would vote no. … We want a bigger bonus."
