Ford lays off 600 workers at plant targeted by UAW strike::Ford is laying off workers while the UAW is striking against Ford, GM, and Stellantis. This is getting complicated.
It’s not complicated. It’s just a really dumb move.
Ford said “It’s not a lock out”. Yeah… tell me the difference then. They just don’t want to acknowledge that they’re even playing the game - or maybe they don’t understand.
If they want to do layoffs in every department that is affected by the strikes they will shut down faster than the strikes could do it. They’re literally helping the union shut down the company, except they’ll make it more difficult for themselves to reopen once an agreement is done.
The UAW already announced that they’d do stand up strikes, which despite the new name is a good old strategy of moving the strikes to whatever area or department they want to shut down today.
With these two strategies up against each other, I think the outcome is already determined.
Ford can not win this by laying off people. It’s not like the union will suddenly back down just because Ford says: “lOOk aT wHaT yOU mADE me dO!!11” while it hurt itself in the confusion.
or maybe they don’t understand
They totally do, and the execs are panicking, but historically companies could just have people arrested for striking, or shoot them, so right now they don’t know what to do except try other scare tactics. They’ll try anything before cutting into their “record profits”
I think the UAW planned for these layoffs. What is Ford suppose to do with all the workforce standing around when the supply chain has been cut and halted on strategic sections. The whole assembly line is down, not just the striking workers. They were counting on Unemployment benefits from the government to stretch out the UAW fund to it’s maximum. This move puts Ford in a much tighter squeeze and will probably help leverage the negotiations on behalf of the UAW. Also, the public eye will frown upon the big 3 by laying off workers. On top of losing sales and market they will hurt their reputation which will be the costlier of them all. It seems that the UAW is prepping for the long haul. Let’s go workers!!!
I just hope that this gets resolved quickly and favorably because all of the industry (supply chain all the way to the bottom) will hurt because of this.
I’ll never buy a ford then.
You shouldn’t anyway. Their vehicles are terrible.
I had a 2003 Ranger that was in tip top shape. I was the only owner and regularly took it in for oil changes and maintenance. Sitting at a stop sign one night on my way home from work and the engine starts knocking out of the blue. Piston fucked and the engine is completely shot. That was like 1-2 months after a full tune up.
My mom had a Ford Focus. As soon as it was out of warranty, everything on that car went south. The electronics, the transmission, everything. That car was a massive piece of shit.
tl;dr - Ford fucking sucks.
That kind of stuff happens with all brands though… Heck, we would sometimes have brand new cars needing an engine replacement at the dealership I worked at back in the day (Nissan around 2009).
I have had a couple of Fords over the years and never experienced anything beyond usual wear and tear. My brother has been driving Focuses for nearly 2 decades now and swears by them.
Not defending ford as a company here, but just sharing my own anecdotes.
Counterpoint: drove a 92 Ford ranger into the fucking ground. That truck was an absolute soldier. I took shit care of it, my neighbor cut my fuel line and I held it together with a clamp and a sock, I got in 4 accidents in it.
Absolute beast of a vehicle.
I’ve heard stories like that from most car brands. Not saying you are the exception, I’m saying the exception is a reliable car that doesn’t suck for almost anyone, like a 90s-00s Toyota
Interestingly, the German mandated car inspections are a good source for reliability, and Fords are almost always in the top few spots in terms of “severe faults found on the car”, and it’s not like other foreign, or even American cars have this problem at the inspections… mainly Fords
I’m thinking of the mid-2000s Exploder that had a widely-known transmission fault that would put the tranny into a permanent fault mode where the transmission light would flash and the gearing was noisy/weird. Ford’s response was “out of warranty, sorry not sorry”. Drove it nearly 100k miles like that. EDIT: forgot about the Focus that wrapped its hood around my windshield when I was in the left lane of a highway going 80 mph.
Not defending Ford here. But we need to be supporting union workers by choosing union made products and services. Those that are saying they won’t buy a Ford now, that’s your choice, but I hope you’re doing your research and at least considering other automobiles that are union instead. Here is a 2023 list of all the UAW built vehicles: https://uaw.org/solidarity_magazine/2023-uaw-union-built-vehicle-guide/amp/
Yeah I wanted a Chevy bolt because that’s the union made electric compact. I won’t buy a struck vehicle but I’ll never buy a non union new vehicle if I can help it. Purchasing non union products is the same as purchasing products from companies retaliating against a union, the only difference is the retaliators haven’t won yet.
Is it bad that I would rather buy a vehicle from the 90’s because it doesn’t have all this bs in it that 1. makes it harder to repair myself and 2. Just feels weird to drive (mainly talking the fly by wire style that modern cars are using, I want to feel the feedback on my gas pedal).
Oh, wow! That’ll show those rascally workers! I’m sure the strikes will conclude uneventfully now!
/s
If they can prove the layoffs are retaliation, can’t the workers sure them? Or does that only apply to the initial action of unionisation?
I believe if it’s an unsanctioned wildcat strike they can fire without it being retaliation, but if it’s a strike backed by the NLRB they have to prove it isn’t retaliation and I don’t think the days gone by an official strike counts here. I could be wrong but that is what I remember about wildcat strike differences
It depends on the kind of strike. Workers that strike over a company’s unfair labor practice are protected from permanent replacements. This is not that tho. While they are far apart, I don’t think they can accuse the companies of refusing to negotiate.
Of course if the union wins the strike then no replacement.
