The United Auto Workers union significantly increased its strikes against Detroit Three automakers on Oct. 11 when 8,700 workers walked off the job at Ford’s Kentucky truck plant.
The surprise move at around 6.30pm took down the largest and most profitable Ford plant in the world. The sprawling factory makes expensive heavy-duty F-series pickup trucks and large Ford and Lincoln SUVs.
UAW President Shawn Fain said in a statement that the union waited long enough “but Ford didn’t get the message” to bargain for a fair contract.
“If they can’t figure it out after four weeks, the 8,700 workers closing this hugely profitable plant will help them figure it out,” Mr. Fain said.
The strike came nearly four weeks after the union began its walkouts against General Motors, Ford and Jeep maker Stellantis on Sept. 15, with one assembly plant from each company.
In a statement, Ford called the strike extension “grossly irresponsible” but said it was not surprising given the UAW leadership’s statements that it wants to keep Detroit automakers from “industrial chaos.”
A Ford executive said the union held a meeting Wednesday afternoon at the company’s Dearborn, Michigan, headquarters where Mr. Fain asked if the company had another offer.
High-ranking Ford executives responded that they were working to potentially bring electric vehicle batteries into the UAW national contract, essentially unionizing them. But they did not have a significantly different economic offering, the executive said. Mr. Fain was told the company had put a strong offer on the table, but there wasn’t much room to raise it and keep it affordable for the business, the CEO said.
Mr. Fain responded by saying, if that’s the company’s best offer, “You just lost Kentucky Truck Plant,” the CEO said. The meeting only lasted about 15 minutes, he said.
A UAW official said Ford had been saying for two weeks it would match its economic offer, but at the meeting Wednesday, the company offered the same offer it had made earlier. Then Mr. Fain and Vice President Chuck Browning called local leaders and the strike began a short time later, the official said.
The significant escalation against Ford shows that Mr. Fain is trying to increase pressure on the company, said Marick Masters, a business professor at Wayne State University who follows labor issues.
But Ford and the other automakers have made concessions and increased wage offers, he said. The companies, he said, “may have reached their resistance points to varying degrees.” Drivers, he said, have positions they cannot cross in terms of competition with other automakers.
Mr. Fain, mr. Masters said, is probably testing how far he has to push Ford before going “full throttle” by striking all 57,000 Ford members.
The trade union’s step does not leave him optimistic for a quick end to the strikes, Mr. Masters said. “I think the issues that remain on the table are pretty thorny,” he said, pointing to union demands that all workers get defined benefit pensions and health insurance when they retire.
The UAW expanded its strikes on September 22, adding 38 GM and Stellantis parts warehouses. Ford and GM assembly plants were added the following week. The Kentucky strike brings the number of workers against the three automakers to 33,700.
So far, the union has decided to target a small number of plants at each company rather than have all 146,000 UAW members at the automakers go on strike at the same time.
Last week, the union reported progress in the talks and decided not to add more plants. It came after GM agreed to bring joint-venture electric vehicle battery factories into the national master contract, all but ensuring the plants would be merged.
Battery plants are a major sticking point in the negotiations. The UAW wants those plants bonded to secure jobs and top wages for workers who will be displaced by the industry’s ongoing transition to electric vehicles.
Since the start of the strike, the three Detroit automakers have laid off about 4,800 workers at factories not among the plants hit by the UAW strikes.
The companies say the strikes forced them to introduce those layoffs. They note that the job cuts occurred mainly at factories making parts for assembly plants closed by strikes. In one case, layoffs were instituted at a factory using supplies from a parts factory that was on strike.
The UAW rejects this argument. It argues that the layoffs are unjustified and imposed as part of the companies’ pressure campaign to persuade UAW members to accept less favorable terms in negotiations with automakers. The factories affected by layoffs are in six states: Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Kansas, Indiana and New York.
Sam Fiorani, an analyst with AutoForecast Solutions, a consulting firm, said he thinks the layoffs reflect a simple reality: The automakers are losing money because of the strikes. By slowing or running factories operating below capacity due to strike-related parts shortages, Mr. Fiorani said, the companies can mitigate further losses.
“It doesn’t make sense to keep running at 30% or 40% of capacity when it normally runs at 100%,” he said.
Striking workers receive $500 a week from the union’s strike pay fund. By contrast, anyone laid off would qualify for state unemployment assistance, which, depending on a variety of circumstances, could be less or more than $500 a week.
Mr. Fiorani said that as the strikes increase, more workers are likely to be laid off at non-striking plants. Once metal stamping plants that supply various assembly plants have produced enough parts for non-striking facilities, the companies will likely close them.
“Once you fill up the stock for the other plants you supply,” he said, “you have to fire the workers and wait out the strike.”
Separate companies that make parts for the automakers are likely to have laid off workers but may not report them publicly, said Patrick Anderson, CEO of the Anderson Economic Group in Lansing, Michigan.
A survey of parts supply companies by a trade association called MEMA Original Equipment Suppliers found that 30% of members have laid off workers and that more than 60% expect layoffs to begin in mid-October.
This story was reported by the Associated Press.