DEARBORN, Mich. – The executive chairman of Ford Motor Company on Monday called on the United Auto Workers union to come together and end the auto strike as it enters its fifth week, saying the future of the company -- and the American auto industry -- is at stake.
Bill Ford is asking the UAW to work together to “reach an agreement” and “bring an end to this acrimonious round of talks” as negotiations continue amid the now monthlong auto strike against Detroit’s Big Three. In a rare speech on contract talks delivered Monday, Oct. 16 at the Ford Rouge Complex in Dearborn, the executive chairman said the union should not be at odds with the company, but rather both sides should be working together to fight the “real competition.”
Recommended Videos
“The UAW leaders have called us the enemy in these negotiations, but I will never consider our employees as enemies,” Ford said Monday. “This should not be Ford vs. the UAW. It should be Ford and the UAW vs. Toyota, Honda, Tesla, and all the Chinese companies that want to enter our home market.”
Autoworkers have been on strike at Ford -- and at General Motors and Stellantis -- since the union’s contracts expired on Sept. 14. This year’s talks, which began in July, have continued and progressed since the strike was called on Sept. 15 -- but the strike has also escalated in the weeks since.
Just last week, UAW leadership decided to expand its targeted strike at Ford by calling on nearly 9,000 workers to walk out from the Ford Kentucky Plant in Louisville, the company’s most profitable facility. While both sides have said negotiations were moving in the right direction in recent weeks, UAW President Shawn Fain told Local 4 that Ford offered the same economic deal last week as it had two weeks ago, making “really no progress.”
Both sides have gotten closer on wage increases and other key benefits, with Ford agreeing to restore a cost of living allowance and eliminate wage tiers. Stellantis and GM have also gotten closer on wages, wage tiers and COLA, though GM had not agreed to either of those demands as of last week.
Earlier this month, GM made a major last-minute concession, enabling the company to avoid a large strike at its Arlington Assembly plant in Texas, the company’s “largest money maker” that employs over 5,000 people. Just as Fain was preparing to announce a strike there, GM agreed to include electric vehicle battery production in the UAW’s national contract, a major win for autoworkers who were concerned about their place in an EV-focused future.
That future remains a concern for autoworkers at Ford and Stellantis, neither of which have agreed to make any similar concessions regarding EVs. Each of the Big Three are investing billions into the transition to EVs, and say that’s where their rising profits are focused -- but the UAW argues those “record profits” should also translate to better pay, benefits and job security for autoworkers amid an uncertain future.
Bill Ford expressed concern for that future in his speech Monday, focusing heavily on the strike’s potentially negative impact to local economies, the U.S. economy and the American automotive industry as a whole. He said a priority of the company is to remain competitive in this evolving market, and that the strike is ultimately benefitting car companies outside the Big Three.
“ ... Ford’s ability to invest in the future isn’t just a talking point -- it’s the absolute lifeblood of our company, and if we lose it, we will lose to the competition,” Bill Ford said.
Last week, the UAW shot down the companies’ rhetoric on remaining competitive, arguing that the Big Three are actually in competition with: “each other over the fattest CEO paycheck,” “the consumer for the highest profit margin,” and “the workers for the lowest possible pay.” In a video posted on social media, Fain said the automakers are trying to make the UAW’s demands seem “dangerous and unrealistic,” though the companies could allegedly “double our wages, not raise car prices, and still make billions of dollars in profit.”
According to the UAW, the Big Three automakers have amassed a combined total of $21 billion in profit in the first half of 2023, and a combined $250 billion in American profits in the last 10 years. The union argues those “record” profits made in the years after the financial crisis should equal better pay for autoworkers, who they say made sacrifices to help the companies stay afloat then.
“They’re competing with their own workforce, seeing how much of the profits they can hoard before we stand up,” Fain said in the video.
Ford’s executive chair said Monday that he agrees that “our UAW colleagues deserve even more, and that’s why we’ve offered a record contract, which would make our UAW employees among the best-paid manufacturing workers in the world.” But so far, the automakers haven’t produced an offer appealing enough to union leaders.
Ford, like each of the Big Three, has made multiple offers to the UAW since talks began, but the union has rejected all offers received so far. Both sides have gotten closer on wage increases and other key benefits, with Ford agreeing to restore a cost of living allowance and eliminate wage tiers. Stellantis and GM have also gotten closer on wages, wage tiers and COLA, though GM had not agreed to either of those demands as of last week.
As talks drag on, the union is ramping up its targeted strike approach, announcing last week that it’s prepared to announce new strike locations “at any time” in hopes of expediting negotiations.
The union initially only closed down facilities that make midsize pickup trucks, SUVs, and commercial vans, allowing the automakers to continue producing their most profitable vehicles. That pattern changed last week, however, when the UAW unexpectedly struck at Ford’s Kentucky facility that makes the Ford Super Duty line of pickups, Ford Expeditions and the Lincoln Navigator. The union could target more profitable facilities going forward, should the strike continue to expand.
The UAW president specifically singled out Ford last week, saying the company would wait until just before the union’s weekly Friday announcements to offer a better deal and didn’t contribute much to talks during the week. Fain said they’ve “changed the rules” and that the only rule now is to “pony up.”
“I still believe in a bright future, one we can build together,” Bill Ford said Monday. “... Let’s come together, reach an agreement, so that we can take the fight to the real competition, and let’s build a great company for years to come.”
Full speech here
You can watch Bill Ford’s entire Oct. 16 speech below.