Bill Ford, great-grandson of the founder of the automaker of the same name and current chairman of its board of directors, called on Monday to his “colleagues” in the UAW union to end the “cycle of acrimonious negotiations” and the “devastating ” strike.
The Ford group, like its two major competitors in the United States, General Motors and Stellantis, has been affected since mid-September by a strike linked to the development of the next collective agreements. Nearly 34,000 employees are mobilized, of the 146,000 registered in the UAW.
This is the first time that all three groups have been attacked at the same time.
The list of mobilized sites has grown or not grown as discussions have progressed, affecting secondary factories, but the United Auto Workers union dealt a blow last week by closing the Kentucky Truck Plant (KTP), the largest plant in Ford. It generates 25 billion dollars in revenue per year.
Union President Shawn Fain explained on Friday that Ford had presented on Wednesday afternoon exactly the same offer as two weeks earlier, “with no additional money,” so the strike was decided immediately.
An “escalation”
According to Bill Ford, “the closure (of KTP) immediately harms tens of thousands of Americans. Employees, suppliers, distributors.”
If the strike continues, “it will have a significant impact on the American economy and will devastate local communities,” said Bill Ford, estimating that “the supply network is very fragile and will begin to collapse with a prolonged strike.”
Source: BFM TV
