A Ford plant in Kentucky has joined the United Auto Workers (UAW) strike against the Big Three automakers, with more than 8,000 workers walking off the job to take part in the ongoing labor dispute, officials have announced.
Approximately 8,700 UAW members joined the strike on Oct. 11 at 6:30 p.m. Eastern time, shutting down Ford Motor Company’s “iconic and extremely profitable” Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville, UAW said in a statement.
Workers at the plant—one of Ford’s most profitable operations, which generates $25 billion a year in revenue—produce the automaker’s Super Duty pickups as well as the Ford Lincoln Navigator and Ford Expedition large SUVs, meaning the walkout will likely make a dent in the company’s full-year profits.
The strike was called by UAW President Shawn Fain and Vice President Chuck Browning after Ford refused to negotiate on further bargaining demands, and marked a “new phase” in the dispute with Ford and other automakers, the union said.
“We have been crystal clear, and we have waited long enough, but Ford has not gotten the message,” said Mr. Fain. “It’s time for a fair contract at Ford and the rest of the Big Three. If they can’t understand that after four weeks, the 8,700 workers shutting down this extremely profitable plant will help them understand it.”
Union Calling for Higher Pay
The strikes came despite weeks of negotiations as union members and the automakers were unable to finalize an agreement on increased wages, enhanced benefits, pensions, and working conditions.However, in the weeks since the strike began, automakers have reportedly more than doubled their initial wage hike offers, agreed to raise wages along with inflation, and improved pay for temporary workers.
Still, the union believes more should be done, including the removal of a two-tier wage system and the expansion of unions to battery plants at all three companies, and in the weeks since the strikes began, the union has slowly expanded plant-by-plant in the hopes of increasing pressure on the automakers.
Shares of Ford fell roughly 2 percent in after-hours trading, after closing 0.4 percent higher on Wednesday.
Walkout Is ‘Grossly Irresponsible’
In a statement Wednesday, Ford called the decision by UAW to call a strike at its Kentucky Truck Plant “grossly irresponsible but unsurprising given the union leadership’s stated strategy of keeping the Detroit 3 wounded for months through ’reputational damage‘ and ’industrial chaos.'”“Ford made an outstanding offer that would make a meaningful positive difference in the quality of life for our 57,000 UAW-represented workers, who are already among the best compensated hourly manufacturing workers anywhere in the world. In addition to our offer on pay and benefits, Ford has been bargaining in good faith this week on joint venture battery plants, which are slated to begin production in the coming years,” the company said.
“The UAW leadership’s decision to reject this record contract offer—which the UAW has publicly described as the best offer on the table—and strike Kentucky Truck Plant, carries serious consequences for our workforce, suppliers, dealers, and commercial customers,” it added.
Ford noted its Kentucky plant is one of the largest auto factories in America and the world and said the walkout would “generate painful aftershocks,” including putting at risk “approximately a dozen additional Ford operations and many more supplier operations that together employ well over 100,000 people.”
It is unclear how long the strike against the Big Three will continue, although union members are set to undergo another round of negotiations with the automakers in the weeks ahead.
