Ford Expedition, Super Duty, And Lincoln Navigator Production Hit Hard By UAW Strike

Ford Expedition, Super Duty, And Lincoln Navigator Production Hit Hard By UAW Strike

Ford’s largest plant has now been shut down by striking UAW members.

In a massive update to the ongoing UAW strike, UAW President Shawn Fain and Vice President Chuck Browning called for 8,700 workers at Ford’s iconic Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville to walk off the job at 6:30 PM local time on October 11. The move came after UAW leadership met with Ford representatives yesterday to receive a new offer and claim they were given the same one as two weeks ago.

“We have been crystal clear, and we have waited long enough, but Ford has not gotten the message,” said UAW President Shawn Fain in a statement on the UAW website. “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.”

This means that Ford’s largest and perhaps most historic assembly plant has been shut down. The plant currently makes Ford Super Duty pickups, the Ford Expedition, and the Lincoln Navigator.

Ford is understandably upset about the situation. In a statement on its website, the company is calling the action, “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’.”

The company says 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.”

There is evidence to their claim since when the strikes were expanded two weeks ago against GM and Stellantis, Ford was spared with the UAW saying it had made “important progress at the table.”

That progress appears to have stopped, which will have massive ramifications for Ford since the plant brings in $25 billion a year in revenue. The Blue Oval says this will not only directly impact 9,000 employees (which most likely includes the strikers) but also force delays and shutdowns down the line, with 100,000 people supposedly affected.

The Kentucky Plant employs 9,251 employees as of September 13, 2023, of which 8,711 are hourly workers – it’s the latter that are on strike.

Ford and GM have already had to idle parts plants and temporarily lay off workers due to the strikes, so this massive addition will most likely lead to more. Luckily for the UAW, it appears it has support from some high-powered individuals, so we’ll see what happens when the two groups rejoin the table.

UAW President Fain will give bargaining updates on Facebook Live at 10 AM Eastern this morning and declare if further action will be taken.