The latest expansion of the Stand Up Strike was called at the Ford Kentucky Truck Plant. It is among the most profitable plants, producing the Super Duty pickup and the Expedition. UAW gave short notice to Ford management about the decision.
“We have been crystal clear, and we have waited long enough, but Ford has not gotten the message,” said President Fain. “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.”
Friday, October 13: In a live stream to the membership, President Fain wore a jacket gifted from the Italian Union FIOM. He thanked the leadership of FIOM as well as representatives from Unite the Union in the UK and IndustriALL Global Union for traveling to the United States to join our members in solidarity on the picket lines. FIOM and UNITE represent workers at Stellantis and Ford among other automakers in Europe. GM workers from the Brazilian union CSP Conlutas also joined works on the picket lines this week to show their solidarity.
President Fain stated, “Our fight is not just about us. It is about the working class. Our companies exploit workers across boarders…The UAW stands for all workers in the fight for economic and social justice.”
President Fain noted that he would not be announcing a further expansion of the Stand Up Strike, but that the UAW will enter a new phase of it. He explained the decision to surprise Ford with a walkout at the Kentucky Truck Plant.
“We did it the way we did for a simple reason, the companies started to wait until Friday to make substantial progress in bargaining… Ford only became interested in gaming our system of announcing strike expansions on Friday. They thought they figured out the so-called rules of the game, so we changed the rules… We will call strikes with little or no notice at locations when we need it and where we need it.”
