Company profits, UAW profit-sharing checks on the line in strike at Ford Kentucky Truck

The UAW strike against the Ford Kentucky Truck Plant is a signal that hourly workers are willing to inflict − and sustain − increasingly serious financial pain to achieve their goals during labor negotiations, as the union and the Detroit Three approach a full month without resolution.

The financial impact of the surprise strike called Wednesday night was swift and immediate.

Ford released a list of 13 Ford plants the action directly affects, where layoffs and closure could happen within days.

The plant in Louisville is a profit center for the Dearborn, Michigan, automaker and its workers. The Ford profit-sharing formula is $1,000 for workers for each $1 billion in North American pretax profit. These are not bonus payments. Workers received an average of $9,176 for 2022.

Kentucky Truck builds the Ford Super Duty, Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator. Super Duty is among the most profitable products Ford sells. The vehicles built at the factory generate $25 billion a year in revenue, according to a statement from Ford in response to the strike.

Now Ford stands to lose roughly $30 million per day in profit with the truck plant on strike, Todd Dunn, the president of UAW Local 862 who led his members to the picket line, told the Louisville Courier-Journal, part of the USA TODAY Network. By taking out the Kentucky Truck Plant, Ford could see the Louisville Assembly Plant and the Ohio Assembly Plant fold within one to two days since they rely on the truck plant for stamping, among other things, Dunn said.

Ford released a list of its plants directly affected by the latest targeted strike:

◾ Ohio Assembly Plant in Sheffield

◾ Louisville Assembly Plant in Kentucky

◾ Sterling Axle Plant in Sterling Heights, Michigan

◾ Michigan Assembly Plant and Integral Stamping in Wayne

◾ Dearborn Stamping Plant in Dearborn

◾ Buffalo Stamping Plant in New York

◾ Chicago Stamping Plant in Chicago Heights◾ Sharonville Transmission Plant in Cincinnati

◾ Cleveland Engine Plant in Brook Park

◾ Rawsonville Components Plant in Ypsilanti, Michigan

◾ Dearborn Diversified Manufacturing Plant in Dearborn

◾ Windsor Engine Plant in Canada

◾ Chihuahua Engine Plant in Mexico

Ford noted that an additional 58 Sterling Axle Plant employees were asked not to report to work beginning Wednesday. This was not the first layoff at the plant because of the earlier strike at Chicago Assembly. Affected workers apply for strike pay from the UAW, which is $500 a week.

Kentucky Truck is Ford's largest plant and one of the largest auto factories in America and the world, Ford said in a statement after the strike began. In addition to affecting approximately 9,000 direct employees at the plant, the work stoppage will create "painful aftershocks" that stand to affect more than 100,000 people.

Ford called the action at Kentucky Truck "grossly irresponsible" and said the company has been negotiating in good faith and responding to key priorities. Ford noted that everything offered to date has been historic in terms of worker gains, since its very first proposal. Union UAW President Shawn Fain says Ford can do better.

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"We have been crystal clear, and we have waited long enough, but Ford has not gotten the message," Fain said in a statement after the strike action. "It’s time for a fair contract at Ford and the rest of the Big Three."

F-Series truck sales are the backbone of Ford. From January through November last year, Super Duty production averaged approximately 26,000 to 27,000 vehicles per month, according to a news release posted on Ford's investor affairs website. That was for vehicles with a base price of $43,970 (plus $1,795 in destination fees) that often climbed past $90,000, depending on the type of engine, wheels, tires, cloth or leather interior, display screen size and massaging seats.

Super Duty trucks are used in various commercial industries, including utility companies, emergency response, mining and quarry, forestry and construction. The trucks are built for heavy towing, hauling, plowing and off-road driving for work.

In addition to the new impact of Wednesday's action, Ford has stopped building the Bronco and Ranger at Michigan Assembly and stopped building the Ford Explorer, Police Interceptor Utility and Lincoln Aviator at Chicago Assembly.

Already, Ford has more than 16,600 workers on strike and 1,923 on layoff due to the strike, Ford said in a news release late Wednesday. The company included a chart that listed:

◾ 600 at Michigan Assembly, which builds the Bronco and Ranger

◾ 133 layoffs at Sterling Axle, which produces rear axles for Ford Explorer and Lincoln Aviator

◾ 243 layoffs at Chicago Stamping, which produces parts and sub-assembly for Explorer and Aviator

◾ 372 layoffs at Cleveland Engine, which makes the 2.3L engine for Explorer

◾ 184 layoffs at Lima Engine Plant in Ohio, which builds engines for Explorer and Aviator

◾ 391 layoffs at Livonia Transmission, which makes transmissions for Explorer and Aviator in Michigan.

Overall, the three automakers have multiple plants closed because of the strikes with about 34,000 workers on the strike lines. The UAW represents about 150,000 workers employed by the Detroit Three.

Contact Phoebe Wall Howard: 313-618-1034 or phoward@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @phoebesaid.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: UAW strike: Workers, Ford risk major damage in Kentucky Truck walkout