I warned everyone on the CarPro Show last weekend that another strike by the UAW at the Ford Kentucky Truck Plant was looming and could happen at midnight on Friday, February 23. Today, the UAW released this information:
“After months of negotiations over local issues, UAW Local 862 has reached a tentative local agreement with Ford Motor Co., averting a potential strike this week.
Workers at Ford’s most profitable plant were set to walk off the job over local issues related to skilled trades, health & safety, and ergonomics. The tentative deal addresses these and other core issues of concern to KTP autoworkers.
There are dozens of remaining open local agreements across the Big Three automakers, while the national contracts were ratified this fall after the union’s Stand Up Strike secured record contracts.”
The Kentucky Truck Plant makes the already short-in-supply Ford Super Duty pickups (F-250 through F-550) along with Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator. The ratification vote is tentatively scheduled to take place next week, from Wednesday, Feb. 28 to Friday, March 1. The two sides had gone more than five months without a local contract when the union last week announced it would strike at 12:01 a.m. Feb. 23 if no deal was reached.
Ford verified that the Kentucky Truck is its most profitable plant and generates about $25 billion in annual revenue.
In an Automotive News story from last week, the publication noted that Ford CEO Jim Farley stated “last fall's national strike at Kentucky Truck as a "watershed" moment in which the company realized its formerly strong relationship with the union had changed. He said the company "has to think carefully about its footprint" as it transitions to electric vehicles.
The article went on to say UAW President Shawn Fain later shot back, questioning whether the company needed new leaders.
File photo: Ford Kentucky Truck Plant 2023 Super Duty Launch Event. Photo: Ford.
