Ford: 150 more workers laid off at Sterling Axle plant due to UAW strike

Oct. 19 (UPI) -- Ford Motor Company laid off 150 workers at a plant in Michigan, citing the effects of the UAW strike against it and the other "Big Three" U.S. automakers.

The company said the Wednesday layoffs at the Sterling Axle plant brought the total number of dismissals to 418 and they were the result of the UAW strike, according to Ford.

The Sterling Axle plant in Michigan supplies parts to Ford's Louisville, Kentucky truck plant, which was added to the UAW strike last week.

"Our production system is highly interconnected, which means the UAW's targeted strike strategy has knock-on effects for facilities that are not directly targeted for a work stoppage," Ford spokesman Dan Barbossa said in a news release.

According to Ford, roughly 16,600 of its workers are striking at three plants in Michigan, Illinois and Kentucky with 2,730 additional workers laid off at ten locations in Michigan, Illinois and Ohio due to the effects of the UAW strike.

Ford Motor Company Chairman Bill Ford called on the UAW earlier this week to make a deal to end the strike. But Ford has also said it has reached its economic limit in what it is willing to offer the UAW to cut a deal.

The UAW has maintained that the Ford offer is not enough to end the strike, with Union President Shawn Fain insisting Ford, GM and Stellantis can financially afford to meet the UAW's strike demands.

Fain said the companies are making record profits and have made enormous amounts of money since the UAW agreed to concessions to help save the companies from financial collapse back in during the 2008 financial crisis.

"Corporate America rebounded after the Great Recession and corporate profits are soaring. Corporate profits hit a 70-year high in 2022," Fain said Friday. "Meanwhile, the working class has kept going backward."