About 400 Ford Motor Co. employees at its Livonia Transmission and Sterling Axle plants will be temporarily laid off due to fallout from the United Auto Workers’ strike against the Detroit Three automakers.
Ford is directing 350 workers in Livonia and 50 at the Sterling Heights plant not to report to work Thursday, according to a statement from spokesman Dan Barbossa. The layoffs are a result of the Detroit-based union’s strike Friday at the Chicago assembly plant that makes the Ford Explorer, Lincoln Aviator and Police Interceptor SUVs. The union pays members who are fired by the Detroit Three $500 a week, the same as members who go on strike.
The layoffs bring Ford’s total to about 1,330 as Wednesday’s unprecedented strike marked its 20th day against Blue Oval, General Motors Co. and Stellantis NV, the maker of Jeep, Ram and other vehicles. Of the Detroit Three’s 146,000 employees, 25,300 UAW members are on strike.
The UAW is expected to provide its members with a Facebook Live update on the collective bargaining negotiations on Friday. It is unclear whether it plans to expand the strike then, although the union and automakers have indicated that major differences remain between the parties on certain issues.
Meanwhile, the labor action has cost General Motors Co. $200 million so far, according to a new filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Detroit automaker has set up a $6 billion credit line.
GM is the only automaker that has so far been spared from one of the union’s strike expansion announcements as part of its targeted factory strike strategy. Since Sept. 15, the union has initiated work stoppages at GM’s mid-size truck plant in Wentzville, Missouri, at all of the automaker’s parts distribution warehouses and at the Lansing Delta Township plant that makes the Chevrolet Traverse and Buick Enclave SUVs.
In an interview with CNBC’s “Halftime Report” on Wednesday, GM Chief Financial Officer Paul Jacobson said the credit line “is just cautious given some of the messages we’ve had from some UAW executives that they intend to do this.” “Drag this out over months. We must continue to fund the transformation and truly position GM for the future of all our employees.”
The union is demanding double-digit wage increases, the abolition of pay scales and other demands. The UAW has expanded its strike against automakers every week since it began.
The $200 million cost to GM is at the end of September. The UAW submitted a counteroffer Monday to GM’s Sept. 21 offer to the union. Details of the union’s meter were not released.
Before the strike, Ford also established a $4 billion line of credit to bolster its financial flexibility in the event the union called for a work stoppage.
More: Where UAW, Detroit Three automakers stand on important issues
GM says in addition to the 9,200 striking UAW members, the company has laid off 2,175 at its plants that supply those facilities or require parts of them. It is estimated that the strikes affected an additional 2,500 workers at its suppliers.
The MEMA Original Equipment Supplier Trade Association this week released the results of a Sept. 29 survey that found nearly 30% of the 80 automotive suppliers surveyed have laid off some employees as a result of the strike, and more than 60% said they expect to to begin layoffs by mid-October if no tentative agreements are reached.
According to the results, 70% of vehicle suppliers also reported concerns about the financial viability of their subcontractors, without a solution being found. More than half of shut down suppliers said it would take them at least a week to return to pre-strike production levels.
MEMA says it is working with the Biden administration to provide financial support to suppliers with annual sales of less than $200 million.
In addition to Chicago Assembly, striking Ford workers have halted production at the Michigan Assembly Bronco and Ranger plant in Wayne. Ford was spared from a widening union strike that destroyed all GM and Stellantis parts depots.
Ford said Tuesday it had made its seventh and “strongest” offer to the union.
The Dearborn automaker’s current offer includes product commitments for every UAW-represented plant in the United States, an increase in the starting wage for temporary workers to $21 an hour, and the transition upon approval for all temporary workers with at least three months of continuous service and one Wage increase of “more than 20%”.
That includes reintroducing cost-of-living aid and eliminating pay scales that currently have workers in component factories on different pay scales than workers in assembly plants, cutting the time it takes workers to reach the top by “more than half.” the wage scale.
Stellantis was spared from having more of its plants join the strike last week as the company took a stand on several issues just before UAW President Shawn Fain announced new targeted plants.
The Jeep and Ram maker made progress in talks with the union on areas such as cost-of-living adjustments that had been suspended in 2009, the right not to cross a picket line, the right to strike over product commitments and factory closures, and an outsourcing deal. Moratorium.
Workers at Stellantis’ Toledo Jeep plant in Ohio and all of the automaker’s Mopar parts warehouses continue to strike.
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