Ford vows help for opioid treatment

Ford Motor Co. has agreed to invest up to $250,000 toward helping to find treatments for opioid addiction, a growing problem at many auto plants.

The automaker committed as part of its proposed contract with the UAW to formalizing an experimental pilot program started by union leaders at two Ford assembly plants in Kentucky to treat the symptoms of opioid withdrawal. It's also partnering with two universities on opioid-use disorder intervention research, as outlined in two letters from Ford labor executives to UAW leadership.

Both initiatives result from years of collaboration between Ford and its union to combat opioid addiction in auto plants. In 2017, the two teamed up to launch the UAW-Ford Campaign of Hope, an education and awareness initiative to tackle drug misuse among hourly and salaried workers. Last year, Ford agreed to allocate UAW-Ford National Program Center funds for a pilot program testing a nonpharmacological pain- management device for recovering employees and their family members.

Results of the initiatives will be circulated to nonprofit and government agencies to help combat the lethal effects of the opioid epidemic on the nation's work force.

"As a union, we understand that opioid addiction not only impacts our members at work, but in their homes and in their lives," Rory Gamble, the UAW's acting president and chief negotiator with Ford, said in a statement.

"Working with UAW Local 862 in Kentucky, we were able to negotiate a study of leading-edge alternative addiction treatments in the Louisville area funded by the UAW-Ford National Program Center. It is our goal that we find groundbreaking treatment alternatives that can directly change the lives of our members, their families and communities through this negotiated study."

Ford will help test a medical device that delivers pain relief by sending low-level electric pulses to the brain through the ear via three acupuncture needles. The device, cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for commercial distribution last November, also can be used to treat the symptoms of addiction.

The device was initially proposed by Local 862 President Todd Dunn, whose work with Ford and the University of Louisville began in late 2018. Dunn said the pilot program was put on hold for several months so that it could be incorporated into the contract.

"I like it in the agreement because both parties hold each other accountable. We had to put it into negotiations. I hated to see that time delay, but once that contract's ratified, that pilot will be official," Dunn said.

Dunn, whose local represents nearly 14,000 workers at two of Ford's largest plants, said he has seen the device help someone experiencing extreme heroin withdrawal control their symptoms long enough to stay in treatment.

"When you have a worker say, 'Hey, I need help,' knowing that demon's going to tap [them] on the shoulder, this device absolutely eliminates that demon for a period of time," he said. "I saw it work and that there was worth every single bit of time and effort."

UAW leaders spoke during the union's bargaining convention in March about the need to expand employer-funded, union-administered assistance programs to prevent the use of prescription painkillers from turning into harmful, long-term dependence. The union also aimed to ensure that workers can seek help without fear of retribution from their employer so they would be less likely to hide an addiction to keep their job.

LISTEN: Oral history of substance abuse in auto plants

There were 70,237 drug-overdose deaths in the U.S. in 2017, according to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Deaths were driven mainly by synthetic opioids, which were involved in 47,600 fatalities that year — or 68 percent of all drug-overdose deaths. Ford has plants in five of the 23 states that saw statistically significant increases in drug-overdose death rates from 2016 to 2017.

During contract negotiations, Ford and the UAW "had extensive discussions regarding the effects of drug addiction, in particular opioid addiction's impact on the well-being of the work force," wrote Kevin Legel, Ford's director of U.S. labor affairs. "The parties agree that this is a potentially significant issue for Ford Motor Company and its employees and is worthy of further investigation."

A Ford spokeswoman declined to comment beyond the letters contained in the contract.

The opioid-use disorder intervention study is one such avenue for investigation. Ford told the UAW it would collaborate with the National Institute of Health Care Reform, which will fund studies at the University of Michigan and the University of California at Berkeley on opioid-use disorder intervention research.