DETROIT — Ford Motor Co. is moving several hundred U.S. hourly workers into a higher pay bracket after surpassing a cap on the number of lower-wage workers it can hire.
Ford said Wednesday that up to 500 workers will transition from an entry-level wage of $19.28 per hour to a top-tier wage of $28.50 per hour over the next two months.
Ford, General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group — now Fiat Chrysler Automobiles — established separate wages and benefits for new employees and veteran ones as part of their 2007 contracts with the United Auto Workers union. Initially, there were caps on the number of lower-wage workers at each of the companies, but the caps at GM and Chrysler were suspended in 2009 as part of those companies’ bankruptcy reorganizations. Ford still has a cap of 20 percent, and it will surpass that this quarter with the hiring of 1,550 workers.
