Mark Fields, Ford’s president of the Americas, says the ratification of the new contract clears the way for the company to add shifts and thousands of jobs. Field says the company will now proceed with plans to add shifts at several of their plants.

The Michigan Assembly at Wayne, which is the plant that will produce the 2012 Ford Focus Electric, will be Ford’s largest plant in North America after the new jobs are added.

Ford is hoping the contract will convince Wall Street to improve it’s credit rating to help reduce the interest rates on its $14 billion of debt.