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Ford lays off 330 workers at Chicago Heights plant as UAW strike continues

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Workers at a Chicago-area Ford Motor Co. plant have been laid off amid the United Auto Workers strike.

About 330 employees were laid off between the stamping plant in Chicago Heights and an engine plant in Lima, Ohio, Ford said in a statement Monday.

“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. In this case, the strike at Chicago Assembly Plant has directly impacted some operations at Chicago Stamping Plant and Lima Engine Plant,” the company said.

At the Chicago Heights plant, 243 employees were laid off as of Saturday. Ninety were laid off at the Lima plant on Monday, according to Ford.

* Tribune…

“These layoffs are a consequence of the strike at Chicago Assembly Plant, because these two facilities must reduce production of parts that would normally be shipped to Chicago Assembly Plant,” Ford spokesperson Ian Thibodeau said Monday. […]

Ford employs about 1,000 hourly workers at the Chicago Stamping Plant. The workers, who are members of UAW Local 588, were not called to strike by the union. […]

The strike hit home in a big way Friday when about 4,600 members of UAW Local 551 put down their tools and walked off the job at the Chicago Assembly Plant, which makes the Ford Explorer, Lincoln Aviator and Police Interceptor SUVs. The Explorer, which is built exclusively in Chicago, is among Ford’s best-selling vehicles. […]

The union is seeking pay increases, shorter workweeks and improvements to retiree pensions and health care plans amid record profits for the Big Three automakers, among other demands.

* John Pletz on which factories could be next…

Once assembly plants go dark, nearby suppliers soon get idled. That means the pain of the first United Auto Workers union strike at Torrence Avenue since 1976 will quickly extend beyond the 6,000 people who make Ford Explorers and Lincoln Aviator SUVs. […]

Among other suppliers in the Ford assembly plant’s impact radius, which also covers part of Indiana, is a supplier park that includes companies such as Autokiniton, formerly called Tower International, which makes front-end assemblies and rear floor pans, and Dakkota Integrated Systems, which supplies interior parts to Ford.

Lear employs more than 800 people making seats at a factory in Hammond, which is expected to be impacted quickly. LM Manufacturing, a seating maker in Detroit, laid off workers less than a week after the strike began at a nearby plant that makes the Ford Bronco.

Urbana-based parts maker Flex-N-Gate employs a few hundred at an injection-molding factory that supplies the Torrence Avenue plant.

* Related…

* ABC Chicago | Ford lays off 330 workers at Chicago Heights stamping plant amid UAW strike: Ford said the strike is impacting its stamping facility since that plant makes and sends parts to the workers that have stopped working. The president of the local UAW chapter representing striking workers told ABC7, “The domino effect will continue as the strike prolongs. Ford knows we are all interconnected.”

* Crain’s | Ford lays off Chicago Heights plant workers amid strike: GM met with UAW leaders Monday and “the union did present a counter to our proposal from Sept. 21,” company spokesperson David Barnas said in a statement. “We are assessing, but significant gaps remain.”

* Chicago Ford plant workers hit the picket line as UAW strike spreads: It’s the third Illinois location to picket after the UAW broadened its strike last week to include a GM location in Bolingbrook and a Stellantis site in Naperville, both parts distribution sites. The new walkout does not include a Ford stamping plant in Chicago Heights.

posted by Isabel Miller
Tuesday, Oct 3, 23 @ 10:56 am

Comments

My most sincere prayers are with those affected and their families.

Comment by Lake villa township dem pc Tuesday, Oct 3, 23 @ 12:24 pm
This was occurring with the writer’s strike. It’s not just the striking workers that get impacted by a strike. In the writer’s strike, it was key grips, craft service workers, security workers, truck drivers, set designers, camera operators, sound engineers, editors, etc etc, etc.

This is the residual impact of every strike. The underlying supply chain to whoever is striking and its impact on workers beyond the ones who are striking.

Comment by Frida's boss Tuesday, Oct 3, 23 @ 1:00 pm