UAW launches strike against Ford’s Kentucky truck plant, signaling major escalation in labor fight
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United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain, middle, visits striking UAW Local 551 workers outside a Ford assembly center on South Burley Avenue on Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023, in Chicago.
John J. Kim | Tribune News Service | Getty Images
DETROIT – United Auto Workers has unexpectedly expanded its U.S. strikes at Ford Motor to a highly profitable SUV and truck plant for the automaker in Kentucky.
The strike was effective at 6:30 p.m. at Ford’s Kentucky Truck Plant, where the automaker produces Ford Super Duty pickups as well as the Ford Expedition and the Lincoln Navigator. The facility employs 8,700 workers.
The union’s decision to strike the plant, which is Ford’s largest in terms of employment and revenue, is a major escalation in its targeted strikes as well as a change in strategy, which has previously included UAW President Shawn Fain publicly announcing the strike targets before the work stoppages occur.
Ford said 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.’ ”
The latter part of the statement refers to leaked private messages last month from UAW communications director Jonah Furman discussing the union’s public posturing of issues and targeted strikes as causing “recurring reputations damage and operational chaos” to the automakers.
The messages didn’t align with UAW President Shawn Fain’s public statements that the union has been negotiating in good faith and is available “24/7 to bargain a deal.”
The automakers have argued the messages as well as the union’s actions show UAW negotiators were never actually interested in reaching a deal with the Detroit automakers.
This is breaking news. Please check back for additional details.
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