For over a month, workers represented by the United Auto Workers (UAW) have been on strike against the Big Three (Ford, General Motors (GM), and Stellantis), and there have also been layoffs due to supply chain disruptions. In the latest round of layoffs announced this week, Ford laid off an additional 364 workers in two states, citing a decline in parts demand as a result of the strikes.
Ford announced Friday it would lay off 354 workers at its transmission plant in Sharonville, Ohio, and 10 employees at its Rawsonville components plant in Ypsilanti, Michigan, according to a report in the Detroit Free Press.
The layoffs come as Ford had to reduce parts production at plants that would normally supply components to the automaker’s Kentucky Truck Plant. The UAW strikes earlier this month targeted the Kentucky factory and resulted in a walkout of about 9,000 workers. Ford said the Sharonville and Rawsonville plants were already facing layoffs, bringing the total number of laid-off workers to 660 and 45, respectively.
“Our manufacturing system is highly interconnected, meaning the UAW’s targeted strike strategy has knock-on effects on plants not directly affected by a work stoppage,” said Ford spokesman Dan Barbossa.
The news comes after strikes impacted the entire industry and these were just the latest layoffs. GM and Ford laid off about 500 workers at four manufacturing plants earlier this month, and last month GM was forced to close a plant in Kansas that employed about 2,000 people.
The strikes, now in their sixth week, involve a total of 16,600 workers at three Ford factories in Michigan, Illinois and Kentucky, and there have also been around 3,100 layoffs at ten locations in connection with the labor effort.
The news also comes after Bill Ford, CEO and great-grandson of founder Henry Ford, publicly called for an end to contract negotiations earlier this week.
Currently, over 34,000 UAW members are on strike against the three automakers. The UAW represents nearly 150,000 workers at the three companies, and more strikes could be on the table if further progress is not made on collective bargaining agreements.
On Friday, UAW President Shawn Fain warned of more work stoppages, as described in a Portal report, despite recent progress in contract bids with the Big Three.
The automakers have agreed to a 23 percent wage increase over the four-year term of the contract, although Fain told union members that “there is still more to gain.” GM and Ford have also said their cost of living adjustments (COLA) have increased the total compensation in the offers to over 30 percent.
“We’re going after the Big Three like we’ve never done before,” Fain told members. “These highly profitable companies have more to offer.”
Still, even Fain said the strikes were nearing an end as some members called on the union to vote on current offers. The UAW president responded by encouraging members not to give in to “fear, uncertainty, doubt and division” in negotiations. However, he also said the union was “eager to complete these negotiations.”
“Right before a deal, there is the biggest push in the last mile,” Fain added.
Watch UAW President Shawn Fain’s update on the negotiations, posted on YouTube Friday, below.
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