UAW President Shawn Fain called without warning late Wednesday for a surprise strike by an estimated 9,000 workers at the Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville, the Detroit Free Press confirmed.
Todd Dunn, president of UAW Local 862, told the Free Press at 6:10 p.m. that he had been called to a meeting and was preparing to lay off workers shortly. The work shift started at 6 p.m., he said.
“We are meeting as we speak,” he said. “We are being chosen as the next lever in an international strike.” We are being asked by our leadership. It’s time to stand up and do our duty.”
Dunn told the Free Press that his roughly 9,000 UAW members have long been preparing for this moment and are ready to do whatever it takes to make the strike a success.
Thousands of workers walked off their jobs at 6:30 p.m. after union officials circled the plant at 6:25 p.m., shutting down the line and urging workers to leave peacefully, a source inside the plant confirmed to the Free Press.
Kentucky Truck builds the Ford F-Series Super Duty, Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator. Super Duty is among the most profitable products the Dearborn automaker sells.
UAW closes $25 billion factory
The location now affected is Ford’s largest plant and one of the largest car factories in the world, the company emphasized on Wednesday. The vehicles built there generate $25 billion in annual sales, Ford said in its news release on Wednesday.
At 5:44 p.m., an alert was sent out by the UAW on the site formerly known as Twitter, which had 16 views, 4 likes and 1 repost before it was deleted. It said: “Breaking: The 8,700 UAW members at Ford’s iconic and highly profitable Kentucky Truck Plant have joined the stand-up strike after Ford refused to take any further steps in negotiations. Workers are quitting their jobs. STAND UP!”
Then, at 6:30 p.m., the UAW reissued its earlier message announcing the strike.
This is the most effective move to date against one of the automakers that focuses on highly profitable products without notice. The UAW strike against Ford, General Motors and Stellantis began after their contracts expired at 11:59 p.m. on September 14th. More than 20,000 auto workers are on strike nationwide, while the closure of auto plants and parts warehouses has led to additional layoffs at automakers and their suppliers.
UAW: “We were crystal clear”
The UAW issued a press release at 6:35 p.m. saying, “In an unannounced move today at 6:30 p.m. ET, 8,700 UAW members walked off the job at Ford Motor Company’s iconic and highly profitable Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville.” The strike was called after Ford refused to take any further steps in negotiations.
“The surprising move marks a new phase in the UAW’s stand-up strike,” the UAW press release said. “Previous extensions to the strike occurred at a deadline set in advance by the union. The move comes a day before the four-week mark since contracts with Ford, General Motors and Stellantis expired.”
Fain said in a statement late Wednesday: “We were completely clear and waited long enough, but Ford didn’t get the message. It’s time for a fair deal from Ford and the rest of the Big Three. If they can. “I don’t understand that the 8,700 workers who are closing this extremely profitable plant are going to help them understand it after four weeks.”
Strike against Super Duty is “grossly irresponsible”
In response to the UAW strike, the Dearborn automaker issued a statement calling the union’s decision to target the profitable plant “extremely irresponsible, but not surprising given the union leadership’s stated strategy, which has been in Detroit for 3 months.” to be burdened with ‘reputational damage’ and ‘industry damage’ called chaos.” “Ford said it had made “an outstanding offer that would make a significant positive difference in the quality of life of our 57,000 UAW-represented workers, who are already among the best compensated hourly wage workers in manufacturing worldwide.”
While Ford made progress on wages and benefits, it said it “negotiated in good faith this week for joint venture battery factories to begin production in the coming years.” “The UAW leadership’s decision to make this record contract offer – “The strike, which the UAW has publicly described as the best offer on the table, and the Kentucky Truck Plant strike have serious consequences for our workforce, suppliers, dealers and commercial customers,” Ford said.
“This work stoppage will not only affect approximately 9,000 direct employees at the plant, but will also cause painful aftershocks – including endangering approximately a dozen additional Ford facilities and many more supplier facilities that collectively employ well over 100,000 people,” Ford said “The UAW’s decision is even more wrong considering that Ford is the only automaker to have created UAW jobs since the Great Recession and assembles all of its large trucks in America.”
U.S. Rep. Morgan McGarvey, a Democrat who represents Louisville, wrote on the website formerly known as Twitter: “I stand with our @UAW brothers and sisters on strike. Local 862 is responsible for 54% of Ford’s North American profits and their workers deserve a fair contract, good benefits and wages, and safe working conditions. Louisville is a union town and it will stay that way.”
I’m on our side @UAW Brothers and sisters on strike.
Local 862 is responsible for 54% of Ford’s North American profits and its workers deserve a fair contract, good benefits and wages, and safe working conditions.
Louisville is a union town and will remain that way.
– Morgan McGarvey (@MorganMcGarvey) October 11, 2023
Ford continues to negotiate how to manage battery factories and pension security, issues the UAW said was a top priority this week, a Ford source said late Wednesday.
But then Ford received a call from the UAW on Wednesday afternoon calling for a meeting with Ford and saying union officials wanted to see an improved economic offer, the Ford source said. Fain and UAW Vice President Chuck Browning went to Ford headquarters with their entire negotiating team and met on the second floor, Ford said. They arrived and asked what Ford had to offer, the Ford source said. That was about 5:30 p.m., the source said.
Ford negotiators told the UAW that there wasn’t much additional room for maneuver economically and that they didn’t have an immediately updated offer. At that point, the Ford source said, “Shawn (Fain) stood up and said, ‘If that’s all you have, you just lost KTP (Kentucky Truck Plant).'” And that was the end of the meeting, the Ford source said.
Ford said it is committed to resolving the strike, but this latest action will impact at least a dozen other facilities.
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Contact Phoebe Wall Howard: 313-618-1034 or [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @phoebesaid.