The United Automobile Workers union extended its strike against Ford Motor on Wednesday evening. It called on 8,700 employees to walk off their jobs at a crucial plant in Kentucky.
Ford Expeditions, full-size SUVs, and Super Duty versions of F-Series pickup trucks are produced at the plant.
In recent weeks, it appeared that the union and company were making progress towards a new contract. U.A.W. negotiated with Ford in the afternoon. Ford refused to sweeten the offer.
According to union and Ford officials, the union’s president, Shawn Fain, informed Ford, during the meeting held at Ford headquarters in Dearborn (Mich.), that he had called for an immediate strike in the Kentucky Truck Plant, located in Louisville.
Mr. Fain and the U.A.W. members said, “You’ve just lost Kentucky Truck.” These officials claim that negotiators only left the meeting minutes after it began.
The U.A.W. The U.A.W.
Three Ford plants are currently on strike. Other Ford plants are located in Lansing and Chicago.
A strike by the U.A.W. has shut down plants owned by G.M. in Missouri and Michigan, as well as Stellantis, which makes Chrysler, Jeep, and Ram cars, in Ohio. U.A.W. U.A.W. Stellantis and G.M. parts warehouses across the country. Nearly 34,000 U.A.W. members, including those at the Kentucky facility, are on strike. The three companies have members on strike.
Ford’s financial impact of losing production at Kentucky Truck would be significant. This is Ford’s biggest plant in the entire world. It produced over 300,000 cars in the first nine months of this year. Ford will likely be forced to stop production at its stamping plant in the same area due to this shutdown.
Ford announced last year that it would invest $700 million into the Kentucky plant. This move was expected to create 500 new jobs.
Ford still hasn’t gotten the message, Mr. Fain stated in a press release. It’s time to have a fair contract with Ford and the other Big Three. If they don’t get it after four weeks, then the 8,700 employees who are closing down this highly profitable plant will make them see.
Ford stated in a press release that it made “a record offer” to U.A.W. members, which “would have a positive impact on the quality of their lives.” Ford employs union members. The company said that the extension of the strike to the Kentucky facility was “grossly reckless” and would have “serious implications for our employees, suppliers, dealers, and commercial customers.”
The U.A.W. The U.A.W. Ford, according to Mr. Fain on Friday, had promised raises of 23 percent over four years. G.M. G.M.
Ford had previously agreed to several other provisions. These included allowing workers to reach the highest U.A.W. Ford previously agreed to other conditions, such as allowing workers to get the top U.A.W. wage in just four years rather than eight. It also provided cost-of-living adjustments if inflation remained high and gave the union the right to strike against plant closures.
Ford made its last substantial offer to the union, according to both parties, on October 3.
U.A.W. Negotiators asked Ford to meet in person on Wednesday. Officials from both sides confirmed that the meeting took place in a large conference room. Ford expected to talk about union representation at the new battery plants, which are still in construction and are at least a few years away from hiring employees.
Fain, who described it as a breakthrough last week, said that G.M. The company is now willing to include the workers in its battery factories as part of the national contract it has with the U.A.W.
According to an official from the union who was briefed about the situation, during the meeting with Ford on Wednesday, Mr. Fain asked the company if they had a new comprehensive offer, one that included improved salary terms. The official stated that when Ford officials told him they didn’t, Fain responded, “Is this all you can offer us?” and declared the strike would extend to the Kentucky plant.
