© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A newly remodeled Ford F250 Super Duty pickup truck is displayed at the new Ford truck plant in Louisville, Kentucky, U.S., September 30, 2016. REUTERS/Bryan Woolston/File Photo
By Joseph White and Abhirup Roy
DETROIT (Reuters) – U.S. auto workers are expected to return to talks with Chrysler maker Stellantis (NYSE on Thursday, a tense day after a surprise strike at Ford’s (NYSE ) largest and most profitable plant raised the stakes between the United Auto Workers and the Detroit Three dramatically.
Wednesday night’s decision to close Ford’s Kentucky truck plant that employs 8,700 workers, the largest strike since selective strikes began four weeks ago, came as the UAW and Stellantis prepared for another major round of negotiations, the sources said.
Ford shares fell 2.2% to $11.98 in premarket trading, while GM shares fell marginally 0.1% to $30.95.
Nearly a quarter of the 150,000 UAW workers at Detroit’s Three Automakers are now on strike, and thousands more have been laid off from their jobs at non-striking operations because the automakers said the strikes were taking their toll. unnecessary work.
The Kentucky strike is a warning to Stellantis and General Motors (NYSE:), whose wage and benefit offers are below Ford’s, according to summaries the automakers and the UAW have released.
“This puts everyone on notice,” said Sam Fiorani, vice president of global vehicle forecasting at AutoForecast Solutions. “If they haven’t brought anything new to the table since last week, GM and Stellantis should be worried.”
Automakers have more than doubled initial wage increase offers, agreed to raise wages in line with inflation and improved wages for temporary workers, but the union wants even higher wages, the abolition of a pay system of two levels and the expansion of unions to battery plants.
UAW President Shawn Fain’s decision to close assembly lines that make Ford Super Duty pickups and large Lincoln Navigator and Ford Expedition SUVs is a blow to Ford that could quickly undermine the automaker’s full-year profits. .
Ford’s truck plant in Kentucky, its most profitable operation, generates $25 billion in annual sales, about one-sixth of the company’s global automotive revenue.
“There are very expensive products here that are extremely profitable,” Fiorani said. “With the Super Duty in this plant, this is Ford’s largest plant. Their goal is to make 400,000 vehicles this year.”
Fain and other UAW officials called a meeting with Ford at 5:30 p.m. ET (2130 GMT) on Wednesday and demanded a new offer, which Ford did not have, a Ford official said.
“You just lost Kentucky Truck,” Fain said, according to the Ford official and a union source, speaking on condition of anonymity because the talks are not public.
“Is this all you have for us? The lives of our members and my handshake are worth more than this,” Fain added, according to the union source.
Ford said the decision was “extremely irresponsible but not surprising given union leaders’ stated strategy of keeping the Detroit Three hurt for months through ‘reputational damage’ and ‘industrial chaos.'”
The Kentucky plant “is a very profitable plant and since there was no warning, it will be particularly disruptive,” said Harley Shaiken, a labor professor at the University of California, Berkeley. “This is an important step to achieve results.”
Fain has said his goal is to keep automakers off balance by taking targeted actions rather than an all-out strike across operations.
“We’re not going to wait forever,” he said on social media platform X on Wednesday night. “If Ford can’t get it after four weeks of strike, these 8,700 workers who closed their largest plant will help them understand it.”
Last Friday, he said that if necessary, the UAW would attack the GM assembly plant in Arlington, Texas, which makes the Cadillac Escalade, Chevy Suburban and other large, expensive SUVs.
Stellantis’ high-profit targets include the automaker’s Ram truck factories in Sterling Heights and Warren, Michigan, as well as two Jeep SUV factories in Detroit.
Detroit automakers will report third-quarter financial results Oct. 24-31, and the UAW could use what are expected to be solid earnings to push for a richer contract.
Before Ford’s announcement Wednesday, the union had ordered strikes at five assembly plants, including two Ford assembly plants, across the three companies and 38 parts warehouses operated by GM and Stellantis.
