Auto workers escalate strike, walking out at largest Ford factory
A top Ford executive says the company has reached the limit of how much money it will spend to get a contract agreement with the striking United Auto Workers union
ByTOM KRISHER AP auto writer
October 12, 2023, 7:16 AM
DETROIT -- A top Ford executive says the company has reached the limit of how much money it will spend to get a contract agreement with the striking United Auto Workers union.
Kumar Galhotra, president of Ford Blue, the company's internal combustion engine business, told reporters Thursday that Ford stretched to get to the offer it now has on the table.
His comments are starkly different from those made by UAW President Shawn Fain Wednesday when he announced an escalation of the union's strike by walking out at Ford's largest and most profitable factory. The apparently widening labor rift indicates that Ford and the union may be in for a lengthy strike that could cost the company and workers billions of dollars.
Fain said on Wednesday that Ford told UAW bargainers for nearly two weeks that it would make another counteroffer on economic issues. But at a meeting called by the union, the company didn't increase its previous offer, Fain said. "Ford hasn’t gotten the message” to bargain for a fair contract, Fain said in announcing the walkout by 8,700 workers at the company's Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville.
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https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/auto-workers-escalate-strike-walking-fords-largest-factory-103920543
