DETROIT: Members of the United Auto Workers union at Ford Motor Co. voted Friday to approve a new contract with the company.
The union said in a statement that 56.3 percent of workers who voted were in favor of the deal.
The four-year agreement reached Oct. 31 gives workers a mix of pay raises and lump-sum payments as well as a $9,000 ratification bonus. The company also promises $6 billion in US factory investments. Ford gets to close an engine factory near Detroit but its 600 workers there will get jobs at a nearby plant.
Acting Union President Rory Gamble called the agreement “life changing” for workers and said it eliminates perpetual temporary employees and different wage tiers for workers doing the same jobs. Ford said the deal increases its competitiveness, keeping its cost structure similar to its US-based competitors. It also secures 8,500 US hourly jobs.
The contract will cost Ford $700 million in the fourth quarter, mainly to pay ratification bonuses to its 55,000 hourly workers.
Union spokesman Brian Rothenberg said Friday night he did not have vote totals.
The deal is similar to one ratified by General Motors workers after a bitter 40-day strike this fall.
On Monday, the union will focus bargaining on Fiat Chrysler, the last of the Detroit Three automakers to settle.
United Auto Workers approve new 4-year contract with Ford
United Auto Workers approve new 4-year contract with Ford
- Union: 56.3 percent of workers who voted were in favor of the deal
- The contract will cost Ford $700 million in the fourth quarter
Qatar wealth fund plans to invest in 5 new VC funds
DOHA: Qatar Investment Authority plans to invest in five new venture capital funds as part of an expanded $3 billion venture capital program, the sovereign wealth fund said on Monday.
The new funds, called Greycroft, Ion Pacific, Liberty City Ventures, Shorooq and Speedinvest, are set to open offices in Doha in an effort to develop Qatar as a venture capital hub, it said in a statement.
The “Fund of Funds” initiative was unveiled in 2024 to attract venture capital firms to Qatar, build a robust environment for entrepreneurs and help diversify its economy away from fossil fuel revenues, as the country follows the path of other wealthy Gulf peers.
Qatar’s prime minister on Sunday announced an expansion of the fund to reach up to $3 billion.
“This year, we move from momentum to scale,” Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said as he opened the Qatar edition of the Web Summit technology conference.
The expansion would potentially target investments besides series A and B funding rounds.
“We are now expanding the scope to do later rounds, so that may open up conversations with a different set of managers,” said Mohsin Pirzada, the head of funds at QIA, in an interview with Reuters.
“We will continue to be quite flexible and support earlier stages as well, but there are sufficient pools of capital within the country to go after those types of opportunities,” he said, citing credit lending facilities.
The QIA has assets under management worth $580 billion, according to Global SWF, a sovereign wealth fund tracker, and late last year it launched its own AI-focused company Qai as it bets on the booming sector to drive economic diversification.
As part of its efforts, the country has launched a pilot computing credit program that provides free computing for startups that are based in Doha, which could be applicable to managers that are part of the Fund of Funds scheme.
The pilot program is going to be “a big differentiator in terms of what our program is offering vis-a-vis our peers in the region,” Pirzada said.
