As contract negotiations continue, pressure is mounting on Stellantis and General Motors following the United Auto Workers strike at Ford’s biggest and most profitable factory in Louisville, Kentucky.
According to summaries issued by the UAW and automakers, the Kentucky walkout serves as a warning to Stellantis and GM, whose wage and benefits offers fall short of Ford’s.
Several analysts interpreted Fain’s move to close Ford’s Kentucky Truck plant, which produces Lincoln Navigator SUVs and Super Duty pickup trucks, as an indication that the nearly month-long series of coordinated walkouts at the Detroit Three may be the beginning of the endgame.
The Detroit automaker has made a tremendous offer, which would make a significant difference in the quality of life for their 57,000 UAW-represented workers. In addition to the company’s offer on pay and benefits, Ford has been bragging in good faith on joint venture battery plants, which are slated to begin production in the coming years.
According to UAW President Shawn Fain, if necessary, the union would strike at the GM assembly facility in Arlington, Texas, which produces luxury SUVs like the Cadillac Escalade and Chevy Suburban. Another possible target for a strike is GM’s assembly plant for heavy-duty trucks in Flint, Michigan. October 13 at 10 a.m. is when Fain has planned a video address. Fain has announced bargaining progress in previous weeks or ordered more walkouts during his Friday speeches.
The automaker stated in a press release, “There are severe repercussions for our employees, suppliers, dealers, and business clients due to the UAW leadership’s decision to reject our record contract offer—which the union has openly called the greatest offer—and go on strike at the Kentucky Truck Plant.” Since Ford is the only carmaker to have added UAW jobs since the Great Recession and assembles all of its full-size trucks in the United States, this move by the UAW is even more wrongheaded.
