Ford workers at Russian plant agree wage deal

ST PETERSBURG, Russia, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Workers at Ford Motor Co's (F.N: Quote, Profile, Research) only Russian plant have approved a pay deal offered by management and agreed not to repeat strike action in the immediate future, a union leader told Reuters on Monday.

Workers at the U.S. carmaker's plant near the northern Russian city of St Petersburg went on strike for four weeks in November and December, demanding their monthly wages be increased to 28,000 roubles ($1,147) from 19,000 roubles.

Management rejected the demands and the action collapsed, but last week managers offered a pay deal which increased wages by 16 to 21 percent, fixed initial monthly wages at 19,000 roubles and set average monthly wages at 25,586 roubles.

"The majority (of workers) voted for the deal, there will be no more strikes", union leader Alexei Etmanov told Reuters.

Ford, which produced 75,000 Focus models at its Russian plant in 2007, plans to invest $100 million to increase capacity to as much as 125,000 units in 2009 and start making the Mondeo model. (Reporting by Denis Pinchuk; Editing by David Holmes)