UAW President Shawn Fain ordered 8,700 UAW members to walk off the job at Ford’s Kentucky Truck Plant (heavy duty F-series trucks, Ford and Lincoln large SUVs) last night, expanding the strike against Ford, GM and Stellantis in its fourth week. The decision was abrupt, following a short early-evening meeting between UAW and Ford negotiators, and delivered with fiery rhetoric from Mr. Fain.

Ford responded to the expanded strike through a statement that reads, in part, as follows: 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 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 their 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 UAW decision brings the total number of striking members to over 33,000. Add to that over 5,000 OEM layoffs forced by disruption directly related to the strike and a dramatic impact on non-UAW employees in the supply chain. To that end, note that the MMA conducted a quick poll of its membership on Tuesday. Within hours, nearly 200 companies reported cancelled/reduced orders and supply chain disruptions that were forcing economic calamity and layoffs. We estimate that the number of supply chain layoffs, both announced and pending, already matches the number of striking employees and will soon swamp the same by a magnitude of two-four times that!

MMA continues to advocate for a fair and reasonable settlement, but I would be remiss if I didn’t express my deep disappointment concerning the events last evening. We continue our efforts to educate the public regarding the threat to our industry and thousands upon thousands of employees, not to mention our economy and our communities. We are working with supply-chain members who are willing to speak with the media to reflect on the very real and very personal impact of this strike. While this is a negotiation between the OEMs and the UAW, we have expressed our concern to elected officials at the state and federal level. The continuation of this strike will truly affect us all.

For your convenience, we again share the following information to assist our members in addressing potential layoffs as the strike continues. Please see the information contained in this link for helpful information you might share with those employees in your organizations that are adversely affected by continuation of the UAW strike.
 

For more information or to schedule a call with MMA's President & CEO John J. Walsh, contact Delaney McKinley, at 800-253-9039 ext. 530 or 517-303-3541.

John J. Walsh
MMA President & CEO
Call 517-487-8550
E-mail walsh@mimfg.org