The United Auto Workers expanded its strike to Ford’s Chicago Assembly Plant, instructing thousands of workers on the city’s Southeast Side to walk off the job Friday in the union’s ongoing labor dispute with the Big Three automakers.

In an online address to members Friday morning, UAW President Shawn Fain called on the Chicago Ford plant and a GM assembly plant in Michigan to join more than 18,000 other autoworkers at plants and parts distribution centers nationwide on the picket line as the union seeks a new four-year contract.

“We’re on strike until they get this right,” said Chris Pena, president of UAW Local 551, which represents assembly line workers at the Chicago Ford plant.

The Chicago Ford plant has about 4,600 workers on three shifts making the Ford Explorer, Lincoln Aviator and Police Interceptor SUVs, the automaker said Friday. In 2019, Ford spent $1 billion to transform the nearly century-old Torrence Avenue facility, which phased out production of the Taurus sedan to focus on building SUVs.

The Explorer, which is made exclusively at the Chicago Assembly Plant, is among Ford’s best-selling vehicles.

Ford also employs about 1,000 hourly workers at a nearby stamping plant in Chicago Heights who are members of UAW Local 588. Those workers have not been called to strike by the union.

The UAW represents 146,000 members across the U.S. Earlier this month, the union directed about 13,000 workers to walk off the job and onto the picket line at a GM plant in Missouri, a Stellantis plant in Ohio and a Ford factory in Michigan.

Last week, Fain gave marching orders to 5,600 parts and distribution workers at 38 locations across 20 states to walk off the job, including 92 workers at a GM parts distribution center in Bolingbrook and a Stellantis facility with 95 employees in Naperville.

With the addition of nearly 7,000 workers Friday, the expanded strike against the Big Three automakers includes more than 25,000 UAW members at 43 facilities in 21 states.

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.

Ken Thomas said when he began working at Ford’s Chicago Assembly Plant 45 years ago, he and his co-workers were well-paid.

“Unlike now,” Thomas said from the picket line Friday, in the shadow of the plant’s sign advertising the iconic blue and white Ford logo. “The pay is probably less than what I made then,” he said, accounting for cost-of-living increases.

The 66-year-old from Merrillville, Indiana, said he’ll probably be fine financially. But he’s worried that “it’s rough” for new employees — particularly the younger generations as prices of necessities such as housing and groceries continue to go up.

“What we’re fighting is actually no different than what our forefathers fought in the ’30s and ’40s. And it’s a wage gap,” he said. “The problem is that it’s way out of control now.”

Thomas, who began decades ago as an assembler on the engine line and now works as an inspector, was one of about five dozen strikers protesting outside the plant Friday morning, some holding signs declaring “Record profits record contract,” some wearing stickers stating “I don’t want to strike but I will.”

“It’s our time!” one striker yelled.

“Our time!” a crowd of union workers chanted back over the din of cars honking in solidarity as they drove by on Torrence Avenue.

Felicia Green, 56, a final line inspector at the plant, noted the historic nature of the larger labor action, which marks the first time the UAW has called for a strike against all three automakers in the Detroit-based union’s 88-year history.

Green, who lives in Merrillville, said she has been working for Ford for 30 years, first at a plant in Rawsonville, Michigan, and later at Flat Rock, Michigan.

“I personally am inspired,” she said. “Because this is something we’ve never done. But today I had the courage to come over here and just be proud of what we’re doing, for the cause.”

Last week, Fain cited progress in negotiations with Ford in bypassing the automaker — and the Chicago plant — from additional walkouts. This week, it was a different story, with Stellantis the only automaker spared additional strike actions.

“Despite our willingness to bargain, Ford and GM have refused to make meaningful progress at the table,” Fain said. “What we win at the bargaining table depends on the power we build on the job. It’s time to use that power.”

During a news conference Friday, Ford President and CEO Jim Farley said the biggest stumbling block in UAW negotiations revolves around four EV battery plants in development — three in Kentucky and Tennessee that are a joint venture with a South Korean partner, and one the automaker is building itself in Michigan.

“What’s really frustrating is that I believe we could have reached a compromise on pay and benefits,” Farley said. “But so far the UAW is holding the deal hostage over battery plants.”

“Keep in mind, these battery plants don’t exist yet,” he said. “They’re mostly joint ventures and they’ve not been organized by the UAW yet because the workers haven’t been hired and won’t be for many years to come.”

Ford paused construction Monday of its $3.5 billion battery plant in Marshall, Michigan, amid the negotiations with the UAW.

Kumar Galhotra, president of Ford Blue, the automaker’s internal combustion division, said adding the Chicago Assembly Plant to a strike that two weeks ago shut down its plant in Wayne, Michigan, which makes the Bronco, will take an economic toll.

“If this continues, week after week, of course, it will have a substantial impact on our business,” Galhotra said.

Gerald Johnson, who heads up global manufacturing for GM, posted an online message to employees Friday morning after the expanded strike call, saying the automaker stands “ready and willing” to continue negotiating with the UAW on a new contract.

“Calling more strikes is just for the headlines, not real progress,” Johnson said. “The number of people negatively impacted by these strikes is growing and includes our customers who buy and love the products we build.”

Stellantis dodged any additional strike actions.

Fain said “significant progress” in negotiations with Stellantis “moments before” the strike announcements Friday included reinstating cost-of-living adjustments that were suspended during the Great Recession in 2009.

“We are excited about this momentum at Stellantis and hope it continues,” Fain said.

In February, Stellantis “indefinitely” idled its 60-year-old auto plant in Belvidere and laid off its last 1,200 union workers after halting Jeep Cherokee production amid dwindling sales. Repurposing the 5 million-square-foot plant likely remains part of any new labor agreement, with everything from a “megahub” parts distribution center to building EV battery components on the table, according to sources familiar with negotiations.

Stellantis said in a statement Friday that it has “made progress in our discussions, but gaps remain.”

As the picket line continued outside the Ford plant Friday afternoon, a driver passing by stopped and dropped off a case of water, expressing support for the strikers.

“A Good Samaritan,” said Frank Stottlemire, a quality operations system coordinator at the plant.

The Hobart, Indiana, resident has worked at Ford for 24 years, and his grandmother and several other family members were also employed by the company.

But he isn’t certain Ford will continue to be such a desirable workplace long term or engender the same worker loyalty in the future. He said newer employees don’t get a pension, a factor that’s helped retain him as an employee for two and a half decades.

“There’s no loyalty to something that doesn’t give you a pension,” he said. “You spend your life in here, and you don’t get a pension?”

Brittany Montgomery, 33, of Momence in Kankakee County added that she has a good job working at the plant, but it’s “a lot of wear and tear on your body.”

Both Stottlemire and Montgomery noted that inflation and the prices of gas, groceries and housing keep rising, without a commensurate wage increase.

“There’s a lot of people here who can’t afford to drive a Ford,” Montgomery added.

Correction: A previous version of this story included an incorrect figure for the number of striking workers. The story has been corrected.

Originally Published: Sep 29, 2023 at 10:05 am