United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain during a webcast updating union members on negotiations with Detroit automakers on Oct. 6, 2023.
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DETROIT — The United Auto Workers is threatening a strike Ford Motor’s the largest U.S. factory if local union demands are not resolved by next week.
The Detroit union he said on Friday Nearly 9,000 UAW autoworkers at Ford’s Kentucky truck plant could go on strike at 12:01 am. on February 23 if there are still problems with local contracts. The plant – Ford’s largest in terms of employment and revenue – produces Ford Super Duty pickups as well as Ford Expeditions and Lincoln Navigator SUVs.
The local contracts differ from the national agreements the union ratified in late 2023 with Ford, General Motors and Chrysler parent Stellandis. They deal with plant-specific issues and can often remain unresolved for months, if not years, after national agreements are ratified.
The union said “key issues in the Kentucky truck plant local negotiations are health and safety at the plant, including minimum plant nurse staffing levels and ergonomic issues, as well as Ford’s continued efforts to erode skilled workers in Kentucky Truck Plant’.
Factory workers and UAW union members form a line outside the Ford Motor Co. truck plant. Kentucky in the early morning hours of October 12, 2023 in Louisville, Kentucky.
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It was not immediately clear why the union set the strike deadline at the Ford plant and not others. There are another 19 open local deals across Ford, along with several open local deals with GM and Stellantis.
Ford, which is proud of its relationship with the UAW, said in an emailed statement: “Negotiations are ongoing and we look forward to reaching an agreement with UAW Local 862 at the Kentucky Truck Plant.”
The strike deadline comes a day after UAW President Shawn Fain criticized Ford CEO Jim Farley over comments he made that the automaker would “think carefully” about where to build future vehicles in light of its changing circumstances. market and last year’s contentious negotiations with the union, which included six weeks of targeted strikes.
Farley specifically cited the UAW strike in October 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 was a watershed moment for the company. Does it have a business impact? Yes,” Farley said Thursday during a Wolfe Research investor conference. “As we see this EV transition and [internal combustion engine] longer and our trucking business is more profitable, we need to think carefully about our footprint.”
Fain, who has historically been a militant union leader, responded, in part, by saying, “Maybe Ford doesn’t need to move factories to find the cheapest labor on Earth,” he said. “Maybe he needs to re-engage with American workers and find a CEO who cares about the future of this country’s auto industry.”