The United Auto Workers (UAW) labor union has expanded its strike against Ford, this time targeting the Blue Oval brand’s largest and most profitable production facility. The announcement, officially made yesterday at 6:30 p.m. ET, affects 8,700 UAW members at Ford’s Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville. The facility is one of two Ford assembly facilities in Louisville, and produces the Ford Super Duty pickup truck line, as well as the Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator SUVs.
“We have been crystal clear, and we have waited long enough, but Ford has not gotten the message,” said UAW President Shawn Fain in a statement. “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.”
According to a report from Automotive News, which cites a Ford source with knowledge of the negotiations, the UAW told Ford yesterday afternoon that it wanted a counteroffer on economic issues by 5 p.m. The union then called for a meeting at Ford headquarters at 5:30 p.m., which was attended by the UAW’s entire bargaining committee, including UAW President Fain.
When Ford officials said they did not have a full counteroffer on economics, Fain reportedly stood up and said, “You just lost Kentucky Truck Plant.” The meeting apparently took less than 10 minutes.
UAW President Shawn Fain addresses union members in a speech last month
“The decision by the UAW to call a strike at Ford’s Kentucky Truck Plant is 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 said in a statement, citing a series of leaked UAW messages. Ford’s Super Duty line is considered to be one of the automaker’s most important, with Ford stating that its Super Duty trucks generate more revenue than Southwest Airlines, Marriott International, and Nordstrom reported in 2021.
Just last week, the UAW said that GM narrowly avoided a shutdown of its production facility in Arlington, considered the most-profitable vehicle assembly line in the world, due to GM’s decision to include Ultium Cells battery plant workers in the national UAW contract.
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Comments
Another set of moronic comments . People complain about raises and think that extraordinary profits , corporate greed are okay . Even with zero wage increases you think that vehicle costs wouldn’t soar , the last three years go see what a price of a vehicle has climbed too , just saying . And the manufacturers can’t keep people at the plant level to work on a daily , weekly , monthly basis . So thinking that vehicles won’t see continuous price hikes is just plain dumb . The problem is with shareholders and the ceo compensation packages . American labour force is parting , no benefits , lack of retirement plans , welcome to new world order . Once that was a strong manufacturing core is now slowly eroding to part time meaningless jobs with zero work ethic .
The UAW are already the best paid automaker employees IN THE WORLD, even more than what the luxury automakers in Germany pay. But in true fashion, Americans want more pay for less work…MORE PAY FOR LESS WORK. I get sick of watching these losers and slobs on the picket line crying because they are tired of living paycheck to paycheck. If you are making $20-$30 per hour and are living paycheck to paycheck, you are doing something wrong and it is not up to your employer to bail you out. If you want to get paid like CEO’s, then chase your dreams and become the CEO of a company…just don’t look to apply at my company, you wouldn’t survive 5 minutes in a non-union shop that requires real labor.
I stand with those who actually have to worry about the sustainability of their business, not those who leach off it and then demand a share of the profits they themselves didn’t take a risk to gain.
Useless trolls. A pox on thee.
Knowing this, GM should be working around the clock building HD’s!
We need a purge of pro-union laws in our nation and a return to empowering private-businesses over collectivists. People who take no risk but demand any portion of the profit are cancerous and deserve nothing. Make a list, clean house and utilize union-busters to keep these rats off of their premises. Leave the labor union nonsense to the likes of fascists and communists. It has no place in a classically-liberal society like the United States.
Yes, and the people like you are the ones to first screw their employees because they always think someone is trying to screw them. With your attitude, if you have anyone working for you, they should quit tomorrow.