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Auto workers escalate strike, walking out at largest Ford factory_我的网站

一 |     DETROIT -- The United Auto Workers union significantly escalated its walkout against Detroit's Three automakers, shutting down Ford's largest factory and threatening Jeep maker Stellantis.In a surprise move Wednesday night, 8,700 members left their jobs at Ford’s Kentucky truck plant in Louisville.And Thursday morning, union President Shawn Fain hinted at further action against Stellantis. “Here's to hoping talks at Stellantis today are more productive than Ford yesterday,” Fain wrote on X, formerly Twitter, without saying what might happen.Ford's truck plant makes heavy-duty F-Series pickup trucks and large Ford and Lincoln SUVs, hitting the company's most lucrative products. The vehicles made at the plant generate $25 billion per year in revenue, the company said in a statement.Fain said in a statement that the union has waited long enough “but Ford hasn’t gotten the message” to bargain for a fair contract. “If they can’t understand that after four weeks, the 8,700 workers shutting down this extremely profitable plant will help them understand it,” Fain said.The strike came nearly four weeks after the union began its walkouts against General Motors, Ford and Stellantis on Sept. 15, with one assembly plant from each company. The company, however, called the strike expansion “grossly irresponsible” and said it has made strong wage and benefit offers to the union. It said the move puts about a dozen other Ford facilities at risk, as well as parts supply plants that together employ over 100,000 people.A Ford executive said the union called a meeting at the company's Dearborn, Michigan, headquarters Wednesday afternoon where Fain asked if the company had another offer. High-ranking Ford executives responded that they are working on possibly bringing electric vehicle battery plants into the UAW national contract, essentially making them unionized. But they didn't have a significantly different economic offer, the executive said. Fain was told the company put a strong offer on the table, but there wasn't a lot of room to increase it and keep it affordable for the business, the executive said.Fain responded by saying, if that's the company's best offer, “You just lost Kentucky Truck Plant,” said the executive. The meeting only lasted about 15 minutes, he said. In a video, Fain said the union moved because Ford didn't change its offer. “We've been very patient working with the company on this,” he said. “They have not met expectations, they're not even coming to the table on it.”The escalation against Ford shows that Fain is trying to increase pressure on the company, said Marick Masters, a business professor at Wayne State University who follows labor issues.But Ford and the other automakers have made concessions and raised wage offers, he said. The companies, he said, “may have reached their resistance points to varying degrees.” Executives, he said, have bottom line positions they can’t cross in terms of staying competitive with other automakers.Fain, Masters said, likely is testing how far he needs to push Ford before going to “full throttle,” by taking all 57,000 Ford members out on strike.The union’s move doesn’t leave him optimistic for a quick end to the strikes, Masters said. “I think the issues that remain on the table are quite thorny,” he said, pointing to union demands that all workers get defined benefit pensions and health insurance when they retire.The UAW expanded its strikes on Sept. 22, adding 38 GM and Stellantis parts warehouses. Assembly plants from Ford and GM were added the week after that. The Kentucky strike brings to 33,700 the number of workers on strike against the three automakers.Thus far, the union has decided to target a small number of plants from each company rather than have all 146,000 UAW members at the automakers go on strike at the same time.Last week, the union reported progress in the talks and decided not to add any more plants. This came after GM agreed to bring joint-venture electric vehicle battery factories into the national master contract, almost assuring that the plants will be unionized.Battery plants are a major point of contention in the negotiations. The UAW wants those plants to be unionized to assure jobs and top wages for workers who will be displaced by the industry’s ongoing transition to electric vehicles.Since the start of the strike, the three Detroit automakers have laid off roughly 4,800 workers at factories that are not among the plants that have been hit by the UAW strikes.The companies say the strikes have forced them to impose those layoffs. They note that the job cuts have occurred mainly at factories that make parts for assembly plants that were closed by strikes.The UAW rejects that argument. It contends that the layoffs are unjustified and were imposed as part of the companies' pressure campaign to persuade UAW members to accept less in negotiations with automakers. The factories affected by layoffs are in six states: Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Kansas, Indiana and New York. Sam Fiorani, an analyst with AutoForecast Solutions, a consulting firm, said he thinks the layoffs reflect a simple reality: The automakers are losing money because of the strikes. By slowing or idling factories that are running below their capacities because of strike-related parts shortages, Fiorani said, the companies can mitigate further losses.“It doesn’t make sense to keep running at 30% or 40% of capacity when it normally runs at 100%,” he said. Striking workers are receiving $500 a week from the union’s strike pay fund. In some states, laid-off workers could qualify for state unemployment aid, which, depending on a variety of circumstances, could be less or more than $500 a week. Fiorani said that as the strikes widen, more workers will likely be laid off at non-striking plants. Separate companies that manufacture parts for the automakers are likely to have laid off workers but might not report them publicly, said Patrick Anderson, CEO of the Anderson Economic Group in Lansing, Michigan. A survey of parts supply companies by a trade association called MEMA Original Equipment Suppliers found that 30% of members have laid off workers and that more than 60% expect to start layoffs in mid-October.。    10月15日，市委书记高键主持召开专题会议，听取新城路、永城街部分路段维修改造进展情况汇报，对加快推进相关工作进行安排部署。抚矿集团党委书记、董事长李兆福出席。         　　高键强调，抓好新城路、永城街部分路段维修改造，是建设宜居宜业城市、保障和改善民生、推动城市高质量发展的务实举措，是以良好形象迎接全国第十五届冬季运动会的打样工程。各级各有关部门要提高政治站位，统一思想认识，保质量、保安全、抢进度，高标准做好城区道路维修改造工作，进一步完善城市功能、提升城市品质。要牢固树立精品意识，注重工程质量，提高建设标准，全力打造高品质的样板工程、示范道路。要按照既定的时间表、路线图，抢抓当前施工“窗口期”，在保证安全和质量的前提下，优化施工方案，配强施工力量，加大推进力度，确保如期竣工达效。要加强组织领导，强化协同配合，及时协调解决施工中的困难和问题，切实把改造工程建好、把民生实事办好。

二 |          　　会后，高键一行来到新城路施工现场，与抚矿集团施工单位进行深入交流，详细了解道路维修改造方案、建设标准、工程进展等情况。他强调，施工单位要强化节点意识，克服时间紧、任务重等困难，倒排工期、挂图作战，全面加快建设进度。要加强工程管理，严格落实安全生产责任制，做到科学施工、安全施工、绿色施工。相关部门要强化统筹观念，合理安排施工时序，进一步优化交通组织，最大限度保障市民出行通畅，减少施工对周边正常生产生活的影响。         　　市领导雒荣广、于海峰，抚矿集团总经理周明弘出席，顺城区、市直相关部门负责人参加。                   责任编辑：刘春阳。

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