United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain during an online broadcast updating union members on negotiations with Detroit automakers on October 6, 2023.
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DETROIT – The United Auto Workers is threatening a labor strike in Ford Motors the largest plant in the United States if local union demands are not resolved next week.
The Detroit union said Friday that nearly 9,000 UAW auto workers at Ford's truck plant in Kentucky could strike at 12:01 a.m. Feb. 23 if local contract problems persist. The plant, Ford's largest in terms of employment and revenue, produces Ford Super Duty trucks, as well as Ford Expeditions and Lincoln Navigator SUVs.
The local contracts differ from the national agreements that the union ratified in late 2023 with Ford, General Motors and parent company of Chrysler stellantis. They deal with plant-specific issues and can often remain unresolved for months, if not years, after national agreements are ratified.
The union said that “the central issues in local Kentucky Truck Plant negotiations are health and safety at the plant, including minimum nursing staffing levels at the plant and ergonomic issues, as well as Ford's continued attempts to erode skilled trades at Kentucky Truck Plant.”
Factory workers and UAW union members picket outside the Ford Motor Co. Kentucky truck plant in the early morning hours of October 12, 2023 in Louisville, Kentucky.
Lucas Sharrett | fake images
It was not immediately clear why the union set the strike deadline at the Ford plant and not others. There are 19 other local deals open at Ford, along with several local deals open at GM and Stellantis.
A representative for Ford, which prides itself on its relationship with the UAW, had no immediate comment on the union's announcement.
The strike deadline comes a day after UAW President Shawn Fain criticized Ford CEO Jim Farley for comments he made indicating the automaker will “think carefully” about where it will build future vehicles. in light of changing market conditions and last year's contentious negotiations with the union, which included six weeks of targeted attacks.
Farley specifically cited the UAW's October strike against the Kentucky truck plant as a key moment in the company's changing relationship with the union.
“We were the first truck plant to close… Clearly our relationship has changed. It's been a defining moment for the company. Does it have a business impact? Yes,” Farley said Thursday during a Wolfe Research investor conference. “As we look at this transition to electric vehicles and [internal combustion engine] As our trucking business lasts longer and is more profitable, we have to think carefully about our footprint.”
Fain, who has been a historically combative union leader, responded, in part, by saying, “Maybe Ford doesn't need to move factories to find the cheapest labor in the world,” he said. “Maybe he needs to reengage with American workers and find a CEO who is interested in the future of this country's auto industry.”
