Posted on 02/16/2024 8:07:51 AM PST by yesthatjallen
Last fall’s contentious United Auto Workers’ strike changed Ford’s relationship with the union to the point where it will “think carefully” about where it builds future vehicles, Ford’s top executive said Thursday.
CEO Jim Farley told the Wolfe Research Global Auto Conference in New York that the company always took pride in its relationship with the UAW, having avoided strikes since the 1970s.
But last year, Ford’s highly profitable factory in Louisville, Kentucky, was the first truck plant that the UAW shut down with a strike.
Farley said as the company looks at the transition from internal combustion to electric vehicles, “we have to think carefully about our (manufacturing) footprint.”
Ford, Farley said, decided to build all of its highly profitable big pickup trucks in the U.S., and by far has the most union members — 57,000 — of any Detroit automaker. This came at a higher cost than competitors, who went through bankruptcy and built truck plants in Mexico, he said. But Ford thought it was the “right kind of cost,” Farley said.
“Our reliance on the UAW turned out to be we were the first truck plant to be shut down,” Farley told the conference. “Really our relationship has changed. It’s been a watershed moment for the company. Does this have business impact? Yes.”
In a statement, union President Shawn Fain said Ford should stay focused on building the best auto industry, not on a race to lower wages.
“Maybe Ford doesn’t need to move factories to find the cheapest labor on Earth,” he said. “Maybe it needs to recommit to American workers and find a CEO who’s interested in the future of this country’s auto industry,” Fain said.
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They sure as hell won’t be building any further models in Michigan —
And probably not anywhere in USA —
Alas.
Proving once again that the true minimum wage is zero, even for union goons.
Don’t forget Ford’s 100% EV fail
Workers, union or otherwise, deserve a bigger slice of the pie.
Dog bites Man.
How in the world can an automaker in this day and age be competitive in the foreign and domestic market with the added weight of collective bargaining units dragging them down?
I just don’t get it
The day will come when Ford and other big manufacturers will be Nationalized, to keep factories here.
Another step in the long de-industrialization of the USA.
If you buy an American-made car built by unionized workers, part of the price goes to the Democratic Party coffers via the union.
1. Ford is stupid to bank their future on EVs.
2. Ford is smart to look for a way to make cars more affordable by hiring skilled workers without the feather bedding we are with unions.
3. The UAW is run by thugs while being populated by decent hard working Americans.
Proving once again that Democraps are terrible for labor.
Three problems here.
Executive salaries are outrageous.
Union demands are outrageous.
Government regulations are outrageous.
In Trump returns to power, he might be able to tweak the last one. But it won’t be enough. The executives and the unions are determined to kill the golden goose.
Unions were once a good thing, back in the days of JD Rockefeller, when businesses exploited workers. But no longer. Now, unions are a hotbed of Democrats and communists.
I had an import truck I sold in 2019 and bought a Jeep Wrangler......my Jeep is a blast but the overall quality in comparison to the Toyota isn’t even close.
Management as a whole is usually way overpaid, unless smart management keeps a company profitable....but unions destroy the goose that is laying their golden egg(retirement, wages, health care, social security contributions, etc) Car cost inflation is not Fords fault this time. Unions gotta be smarter if they want to keep the goose healthy.
For once I would like to see a union come up with a plan that makes a company run more efficiently, and shares the profit with the whole company. Instead of their bare tooth reactionary stance.
If the current administration or another Democrat wins in November, every car company could move manufacturing out of the country and none of them will care.
Don’t forget Ford’s 100% EV fail ... if the EVs fail it won’t matter. There will be some type of government bailout
The workers, yes. The Union Leadership, no.
Now the Union bosses are the ones exploiting the workers.
I agree, but that won’t play well here.
Boomers are proud about getting abused by the companies they worked for.
70 hour weeks and not compensated…
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