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On Oct. 13, Ford announced that it would lay off another 550workers, bringing the total number of employees affected by the strike layoffs to about 2480. Ford said the strike strategy of the United Auto Workers (UAW) had a knock-on effect on factories because its production systems were interrelated.

Two days ago, Oct. 11, UAW went on strike at Ford's Kentucky truck plant (Kentucky Truck Plant), Ford's largest plant, which makes F-series pickups, Ford Expedition and Lincoln navigators, with annual revenues of $25 billion (182.6 billion yuan), accounting for 1/6 of global revenue.

Ford pointed out that the shutdown of the Kentucky truck plant will pose a huge risk, affecting about a dozen Ford plants and more supplier plants, affecting more than 100,000 employees. Analysts at Wells Fargo estimate that the Kentucky plant strike will cost Ford about $150 million a week in core profits.

It is understood that Ford has previously put forward new proposals, including raising wages by 23% Mel 26% according to different types of jobs; retaining platinum health insurance benefits; approving bonuses; and restoring cost of living allowances and other benefits; Kumar Galhotra, president of Ford's traditional business, said that this is our limit and we have made every effort to get this far. While the company is willing to adjust funds within the range of existing offers to meet union priorities, any increased costs will hurt the carmaker's ability to operate and invest in emerging areas such as electric vehicles in the future.

Since September 15, UAW has carried out strikes to varying degrees against Ford, GM and Stellantis. Previously, UAW's crackdown on Ford mainly focused on the Wayne plant in Michigan and the assembly plant in Chicago, which are not Ford's main source of profits, and the strike against the Kentucky auto plant without any warning, Ford will pay a more painful price and compromise with UAW.

'This is our limit and we try our best to get this far, 'said Kumar Galhotra, president of Ford's traditional business. While the company is willing to adjust funds within the range of existing offers to meet union priorities, any increased costs will hurt the carmaker's ability to operate and invest in emerging areas such as electric vehicles in the future.

According to foreign media reports, this week's negotiations focused on the union status and retirement protection of future battery factory workers. UAW hopes that Ford will be on a par with GM, allow battery factory workers to join the union and continue to raise its offer, but Ford has made the best offer, but UAW still believes that Ford's offer is insincere and launched a strike against the Kentucky plant. It is understood that Ford has previously put forward new proposals, including an increase of 23%, 26%, depending on the type of job; retention of platinum health insurance benefits; approval of bonuses; and restoration of cost of living allowance and other benefits.

UAW strikes against Ford, GM and Stellantis have been going on for four weeks since Sept. 15. AEG, a Michigan-based economic consultancy, reported that UAW strikes against Ford, GM and Stellantis had caused 5.5 billion yuan in losses by the end of the third week, surpassing the $4 billion in 2019. In 2019, UAW launched a 40-day strike against GM at a cost of about $4 billion.

Industry insiders believe that at present, the scope of impact of the UAW targeted strike is still very limited, and the sales of Detroit automakers have not suffered a major blow, but the automobile industry, as a pillar industry of the US economy, a prolonged strike will lead to an unprecedented blow to the United States and increase the risk of economic recession. So far, the number of strikes has risen to 33700.

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