As union organizers focused on Ford Motor Company, Henry Ford decided to entrust the company's response to one of his key executives, Harry Bennett, a powerful figure with a reputation for toughness and violence. The result was a extended period of confrontation that included violence and bloodshed, including the "Battle of the Overpass" in 1937. The UAW eventually won the right to organize the workers at Ford Motor Company. The first contract was signed in 1941.

Prior to 1941 the Ford Motor Company Research & Engineering Center was known as the Dearborn Laboratories. Unfortunately, the members at the Dearborn Laboratories were not recognized as part of the 1941 contract. The members decided to continue to fight to be unionized. They organized under a charter granted by the Mechanics Education Society of America. On December 10, 1942 the UAW granted the Dearborn Laboratories a charter as a separate local union: Local 245 UAW-CIO. UAW Local 245 received official recognition with the 1982 national agreement.

In the beginning, UAW Local 245 worked out off the Calvin Theater in Dearborn. The Dearborn Laboratories continued to grow and evolve largely impart to the hard work and dedication of the company and union working together. They embraced the latest automotive and industrial technologies. Ford Motor Company made the decision to change the name of the Dearborn Laboratories to reflect the cutting edge automobile research and engineering. On May 20, 1953 the Ford Motor Company  Research and Egineering Center was dedicated by President Dwight D. Eisenhower.