The United Auto Workers (UAW) told Ford employees at an Ohio plant the company wants to move production of a new line to Mexico instead of their Ohio Assembly Plant (OHAP).
Ford has not made its decision public, but the union insists it received “strategically limited information,” and the situation is “rapidly evolving.”
It’s weird (not really) this happens only a few months after President Donald Trump left office.
From News 5 Cleveland:
The letter from UAW Vice President Gerald Kariem stated that at the heart of the last contract with Ford signed in November 2019 was to increase job security and Ford, in turn, responded with a commitment to invest $900 million into the Ohio Assembly Plant, some of which was for “next-generation product to be added in 2023,” he wrote.“Unfortunately, Ford Motor Company has decided it will not honor its promise to add a new product to OHAP and, instead, it intends to build the next-generation vehicle in Mexico,” he wrote.
In 2019, Ford promised, “to spend $900 million on the factory, in part to retool for a new model that it would start building in 2023.”
Ford only said it remains “committed to the factory.” More from The Wall Street Journal:
In a separate letter to employees, the Ohio plant manager, Jason Moore, said conditions have changed since the last UAW contract was negotiated and pointed to other investments the company has made at the factory, including hiring more than 100 workers to increase pickup truck production.Mr. Moore’s letter didn’t reference plans to move a future vehicle to a different factory. A Ford spokeswoman declined to comment on the UAW’s statement that the company has redirected the vehicle to Mexico.
Kelli Felker, Ford global manufacturing and communications manager told The Detroit Free Press the company is “always looking at our options” but does not “discuss future product.”
Felker mentioned Ford has plans “to invest $6 billion and create and retain 8,500 jobs in America during the course of this four-year contract.”
President Joe Biden has not said anything yet. Ohio politicians want to pressure Ford to keep the new car production in the plant:
“We’re working with the White House. We’re going to put a lot of pressure on Ford management,” Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown told reporters Wednesday. “It’s the same old story — they make promises or shut down production or fail to invest and they move to Mexico because they can save on labor costs and environmental costs. That’s what the auto industry has done in our state for decades, and we’re fighting back.”
I wonder if the media and the left will go after Brown for criticizing the auto industry, which has always seemed to be a sacred cow for the left.
Sen. Rob Portman (R): “I’m very concerned about it. I don’t know that it’s accurate, I hope it’s not. Ford has made a commitment to be the biggest U.S. manufacturer — in other words, of all the U.S. companies — that they will manufacture more in the United States than anybody else. They do that now. I hope that they choose to continue to keep that product at Avon Lake, and I’m weighing in strongly encouraging that.”
Toledo Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur: “For Ford to back out of its commitment to workers in Ohio, and instead export American jobs to Mexico, would be devastating decision for Ohio families and the greater regional economy. Every vehicle or component manufactured in Mexico represents a lost job and broken promise to America’s manufacturing work force.”
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