UAW orders 8,700 employees to walk out at Ford’s Kentucky Truck Plant, shutting down plant

In an unannounced move, thousands of United Auto Workers (UAW) union members walked off the job Wednesday, shutting down Ford Motor Company’s Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville, and ramping up the continued strike against Detroit’s Big Three automakers — Ford, General Motors and Stellantis.

The strike comes on day 27 of the UAW strike, with 8,700 UAW members walking off the job at 6:30 p.m.

The Ford Motor Co. assembly plant in Louisville, Ky.  (Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg via Getty Images/File/Fox News / Getty Images)

UAW members attend a rally last week in support of the labor union strike at the UAW Local 551 hall in Chicago. (Jim Vondruska/Getty Images / Getty Images)

UAW President Shawn Fain said in a press release that the strike at the Kentucky plant comes since the automaker has “not gotten the message” from union members. 

“We have been crystal clear, and we have waited long enough, but Ford has not gotten the message,” Fain said. “It’s time for a fair contract at Ford and the rest of the Big Three. If they can’t understand that after four weeks, the 8,700 workers shutting down this extremely profitable plant will help them understand it.”

‘STRIKETOBER’ RETURNS WITH VENGEANCE

Ford’s Kentucky Truck Plant manufactures Ford Super Duty pickups, as well as the Ford Expedition, and the Lincoln Navigator.

Ford called the walkout, “grossly irresponsible but unsurprising.”

“The decision by the UAW to call a strike at Ford’s Kentucky Truck Plant is grossly irresponsible, but unsurprising given the union leadership’s stated strategy of keeping the Detroit 3 wounded for months through reputational damage and industrial chaos,” a spokesperson for Ford Motors said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

The frame of a vehicle moves along an assembly line at the Ford Motor Co. Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville, Ky. (Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)

The spokesperson noted Ford have given an “outstanding offer” to UAW workers, which union leaders have rejected.

“Ford made an outstanding offer that would make a meaningful positive difference in the quality of life for our 57,000 UAW-represented workers, who are already among the best compensated hourly manufacturing workers anywhere in the world. In addition to our offer on pay and benefits, Ford has been bargaining in good faith this week on joint venture battery plants, which are slated to begin production in the coming year,” a spokesperson said.

“The UAW leadership’s decision to reject this record contract offer — which the UAW has publicly described as the best offer on the table — and strike Kentucky Truck Plant, carries serious consequences for our workforce, suppliers, dealers and commercial customers,” a spokesperson said.

GENERAL MOTORS REACHES TENTATIVE AGREEMENT WITH CANADIAN UNION, ENDING STRIKE

The strike has resulted in thousands of layoffs at the automakers, as the strike continues without an agreed upon resolution. 

Total strike-related layoffs have now reached around 2,300 at GM, which has been the hardest hit by the strike. Ford has laid off a total of 1,865 workers since the strike began, and Stellantis has laid off 640.

A United Auto Workers union member holds a sign outside Stellantis Sterling Heights Assembly Plant, to mark the beginning of contract negotiations in Sterling Heights, Mich., July 12, 2023. (Reuters/Rebecca Cook/File/Fox News / Reuters Photos)

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Around 25,000 of the 150,000 UAW members employed by the Big Three are on strike, but shutdowns at critical assembly plants is eliminating work at other factories, contributing to the layoffs.

The UAW did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

FOX Business’ Breck Dumas contributed to this report.