[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 14829]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            FORD AND THE UAW

  (Mr. HIGGINS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. HIGGINS. Mr. Speaker, it is with great satisfaction that I report 
to the House today on the agreement reached between the Ford Motor 
Company and the United Auto Workers and its positive impact on the 
Nation and in western New York.
  Under the agreement, Ford will increase its workforce at its plant in 
Hamburg, New York. Not only will they offer to rehire 120 workers who 
were laid off earlier this year, they will create 400 new jobs and 
create a $136 million investment in the facility. This is a substantial 
and generational commitment.
  How did this happen? It was the recognition that western New York has 
a highly skilled and dependable workforce, with a long history of labor 
and management working together in cooperation. It is also the result 
of labor and management working diligently to get a deal done. Their 
goal was business growth and job creation, and they accomplished it 
without the brinksmanship and manufactured crises that have become far 
too common in Washington this year.
  Perhaps Congress can learn from Ford and the UAW that when two sides 
sit down at the table and bargain in good faith toward a common good, 
the end can be more satisfying, resulting in new business investment 
and job growth.

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