(New York) The American automobile manufacturer Ford, affected like its competitors General Motors and Stellantis since mid-September by a strike, announced Monday the temporary dismissal of hundreds of additional employees as a result of this social movement.
“Our production system is highly interconnected, which means that the UAW’s targeted strike strategy has knock-on effects on sites not directly affected by the work stoppage. “, indicated the group.
Around 25,000 employees of the three major manufacturers were called in several waves by the United Auto Workers union to stop work, as part of a movement started after the failure of negotiations on new collective agreements before the deadline of 14 september.
The work stoppage at a Ford plant in Chicago, Illinois, “directly impacts” operations at a stamping plant, also located in Chicago, and an engine manufacturing site in Lima, Ohio, the latter two supplying spare parts to supply the production of the first.
“Approximately 330 employees were asked not to come to work,” Ford said, specifying that these “dismissals” were effective from September 30 for the Chicago site and October 2 for the Lima site.
They are in addition to the 600 people already temporarily dismissed for lack of activity by Ford since September 15, when the strike movement began.
Stellantis and General Motors have also reduced staff at several sites for the same reasons.
Initially, the UAW called on nearly 13,000 of its 146,000 members within the three manufacturers to stop work, then it added some 5,600 a week later for lack of progress in negotiations and an additional 7,000 the following year. following week to bring the total to some 25,000.
According to a source close to the negotiations, discussions continued on Monday with the three manufacturers.