UAW talks to seek seat on Ford’s board

Ford Motor Company President and CEO Alan Mulally, right, shakes hands with United Auto Workers President Bob King during a news conference.

The United Auto Workers will ask Ford Motor Co. for a board seat during negotiations for a new labor contract, President Bob King said Friday.

“Will one of our proposals be for a board seat in Dearborn? Yes it will,” Mr. King told reporters near Ford’s headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan. Ford and the UAW began talks Friday for a labor contract to replace an agreement that expires Sept. 14.

Ford is the only U.S. automaker that faces the threat of a strike in this year’s negotiations with the UAW. Workers at General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group LLC, as part of U.S.- backed bankruptcies in 2009, agreed not to strike during these contract talks.

UAW members at Ford in 2009 rejected a strike ban similar to the ones at GM and Chrysler, in which unresolved differences would be decided by an arbitrator. Ford did not seek a U.S. bailout after borrowing more than $23 billion in late 2006.

Ford generated a total of $9.3 billion of net income in 2009 and 2010, and $4.9 billion in this year’s first half. GM and Chrysler started their negotiations with the Detroit-based union earlier this week.