Ford To Lay Off Another 550 Workers After UAW’s ‘Surprise Move’ Hits Kentucky Truck Plant

Starting Monday, Ford Motor Co. will lay off another 550 workers at several plants across the Midwest after United Auto Workers hit the automaker’s largest factory with ‘surprise strikes’ last week.

Detroit Free Press reports, “The latest round of layoffs tied to the 2023 UAW strike, bringing Ford’s total to approximately 2,480 strike-related layoffs.” 

UAW boss Shawn Fain made a surprise announcement on Thursday, indicating 8,700 UAW members walked off the job at the highly profitable SUV and truck plant in Louisville, Kentucky. He said expanding strikes were due to Ford’s refusal “to make further movement in bargaining.” 

According to Ford spokesman Dan Barbossa, the automaker’s “production system is highly interconnected, which means the UAW’s targeted strike strategy has knock-on effects for facilities that are not directly targeted for a work stoppage.

Barbossa explained, “In this case, the strike at the Kentucky Truck Plant and Chicago Assembly Plant has directly impacted operations at several other facilities.”

Ford provided the parts plants where the layoffs will occur tomorrow: 

• 306 employees at Sharonville Transmission Plant in Cincinnati, Ohio.

• 100 employees at Dearborn Stamping Plant in Michigan.

• 65 employees at Dearborn Diversified Manufacturing Plant in Michigan.

• 45 employees at Rawsonville Components Plant in Ypsilanti.

• 29 employees at Sterling Axle Plant in Sterling Heights.

• 12 employees at Chicago Stamping Plant in Chicago Heights, Illinois.

Barbossa added: “These are not lockouts … these layoffs are a consequence of the strike, because these six facilities must reduce the production of parts that would normally be shipped to Kentucky Truck Plant and / or Chicago Assembly Plant.”

We have noted how UAW strikes are turning to “permanent strikes” for thousands of workers across Detroit’s Big Three automakers. 

Last month, Ford’s chief supply chain officer, Liz Door, estimated that prolonged strikes could be disastrous for the supplier ecosystem, estimating “between 325,000 to 500,000 people that could be laid off.”