UAW President Shawn Fain called for a surprise strike of an estimated 9,000 workers late Wednesday at Ford’s Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville, over what the union said was a lack of progress at the bargaining table.
Todd Dunn, president of UAW Local 862, told the Free Press at 6:10 p.m. he had been called into a meeting and was preparing to walk out the workers. The work shift begins at 6 p.m., he said.
“We’re being chosen to be the next arm of leverage in an international strike,” he said. “We’re being called on by our leadership. It’s time to stand up and do our duty.”
Dunn told the Free Press his 9,000 or so UAW members have long prepared for this moment and are ready to do what’s required to help the strike succeed.
With little warning, thousands of workers left their jobs at 6:30 p.m., just minutes after union officials walked through the plant, shut off the line and told workers to walk out 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 site now striking is Ford’s largest plant and one of the largest auto factories in the world, the company emphasized Wednesday. The vehicles built there account for $25 billion a year in revenue, according to Ford. That amounts to one-sixth of the automaker’s global revenue, a Ford source said.
An alert on the site formerly known as Twitter, was sent by the UAW at 5:44 p.m. and had 16 views, 4 likes and 1 repost before being deleted. It said: “Breaking: The 8,700 UAW members at Ford’s iconic and extremely profitable Kentucky Truck Plant have joined the Stand Up Strike after Ford refuses to make further movement in bargaining. Workers are walking off the job right now. STAND UP!”
Then, at 6:30 p.m., the UAW reposted its earlier message announcing the strike.
This is, to date, the most impactful move against any of the automakers, going at high-profit products and with zero notice. The UAW strike against Ford, General Motors and Stellantis began after their contract expired at 11:59 p.m. on Sept. 14. More than 20,000 autoworkers are walking picket lines nationally while the shutdown of auto plants and parts warehouses have created a ripple effect of additional layoffs by carmakers and their suppliers.
The UAW was already striking two Ford plants, Chicago Assembly in Illinois and Michigan Assembly in Wayne.
UAW: ‘We have been crystal clear’
The UAW issued a news release at 6:35 p.m. that said: “In an unannounced move, 8,700 UAW members walked off the job today at 6:30 p.m. ET.”
“The surprise move marks a new phase in the UAW’s Stand Up Strike,” the UAW release said. “Previous expansions of the strike occurred at a deadline set in advance by the union. The move comes one day before the four-week mark since contracts expired at Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis.”
Fain said in a statement late Wednesday: “We have been crystal clear, and we have waited long enough, but Ford has not gotten the message. It’s time for a fair contract at Ford and the rest of the Big Three. If they can’t understand that after four weeks, the 8,700 workers shutting down this extremely profitable plant will help them understand it.”
What happened in the hours that led up to this strike
Ford received a call from the UAW on Wednesday afternoon asking for a meeting, saying union officials wanted to see an improved economic offer, the Ford source said. Fain and UAW Vice President Chuck Browning went to Ford World Headquarters with their entire bargaining team and met on the second floor, the Ford source said. With more than 40 UAW people in the room, Ford officials realized something was up, the Ford source said.
The UAW asked what Ford had to offer, the Ford source said. That was about 5:30 p.m., the source said. An hour earlier, Ford had heard from its Kentucky Truck personnel that a strike was expected around 6 p.m. and figured that the rushed meeting somehow related to the secret strike plan, the Ford source said.
Ford negotiators told the UAW that there wasn’t much additional room on economics and that they didn’t have an immediate updated offer. At that point, the Ford source said, “Shawn (Fain) stood up and said, ‘If that’s all you got, you just lost KTP (Kentucky Truck Plant).’ “
And that was the end of the meeting, which lasted less than 10 minutes, the Ford source said.
A UAW source later told the Detroit Free Press a different version of how the conversation unfolded.
“President Fain said, ‘If this is all you have for us, our members’ lives and my handshake are worth more than this. This just cost you Kentucky Truck Plant. We’ll take this under advisement. Chuck (Browning) and I have a call to make,’ ” the UAW source told the Free Press late Wednesday. Fain and Browning left to call local UAW leaders, including Dunn.
Strike on Super Duty is ‘grossly irresponsible’
In response to the UAW’s strike move, the Dearborn automaker issued a statement calling the union’s decision to target the plant “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.’ “Ford said it “made an outstanding offer that would make a meaningful positive difference in the quality of life for our 57,000 UAW-represented workers, who are already among the best compensated hourly manufacturing workers anywhere in the world.”
While making inroads on pay and benefits, Ford said, it “has been bargaining in good faith this week on joint venture battery plants, which are slated to begin production in the coming years.””The UAW leadership’s decision to reject this record contract offer — which the UAW has publicly described as the best offer on the table — and strike Kentucky Truck Plant, carries serious consequences for our workforce, suppliers, dealers and commercial customers,” Ford said.
Kentucky Truck workers stamp parts for the Louisville Assembly Plant, for example, so disruption is inevitable.
“In addition to affecting approximately 9,000 direct employees at the plant, this work stoppage will generate painful aftershocks — including putting at risk approximately a dozen additional Ford operations and many more supplier operations that together employ well over 100,000 people,” Ford said. “This decision by the UAW is all the more wrongheaded given that Ford is the only automaker to add UAW jobs since the Great Recession and assemble all of its full-size trucks in America.”
“Louisville is a union town”
U.S. Rep. Morgan McGarvey, a Democrat who represents Louisville, posted on the site formerly known as Twitter: “I stand with our @UAW brothers & sisters on strike. Local 862 is responsible for 54% of Ford’s North American profits, & their workers deserve a fair contract, good benefits & wages, & safe working conditions. Louisville is a union town & it’s going to stay that way.”
Ford’s current UAW offer
Here is a snapshot of how negotiations have evolved between Ford and the UAW:
- Wages: At the end of August, Ford offered a 15% raise over the life of the contract. Oct. 3 offer is “more than 20%” with an immediate double-digit increase upon ratification.
- COLA: August: Ford offered a lump sum of $12,000 rather than restore COLA. Oct. 3: Traditional COLA will be offered to provide “inflation protection.”
- Elimination of tiers: Ford offered to eliminate wage tiers — enabling employees at Rawsonville Components and Sterling Axle to reach the top wage rate.
- Temps: First offer was a pay increase to $20 (is $16.67 now) and full ratification bonus. Oct. 3 offer is $21 an hour, 90-day conversion, full ratification bonus and profit-sharing.
- Retirement: Increased contribution to 401(k) but no restorations of defined benefit plan in either offer.
Ford is continuing to negotiate how to manage battery plants and retirement security, issues the UAW said were top priorities this week, a Ford source said late Wednesday.
More:Spending all night on the Ford strike line
Free Press staff writer Jamie L. LaReau contributed to this report.
Contact Phoebe Wall Howard: 313-618-1034 or [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @phoebesaid.
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