More MI Ford Automakers Temporarily Laid Off Amid UAW Strike

DEARBORN, MI — More than 550 autoworkers from Ford Motor Company were temporarily laid as the United Auto Workers' strike enters another week.

The automaker said the layoffs are tied to work stoppages at the Kentucky Truck Plant and Chicago Assembly Plant. Autoworkers were laid off at plants in Illinois, Ohio and four in metro Detroit.

"Our production system is highly interconnected, which means the UAW’s targeted strike strategy has knock-on effects for facilities that are not directly targeted for a work stoppage," Ford said in a statement. "In this case, the strike at Kentucky Truck Plant and Chicago Assembly Plant has directly impacted operations at several other facilities."

The layoffs in metro Detroit include:

• 100 workers at the Dearborn Stamping Plant
• 65 workers at the Dearborn Diversified Manufacturing Plant
• 45 workers at Ford's Rawsonville Components Plant
• 29 workers at Ford's Sterling Axle Plant

Another 306 autoworkers at the Sharonville Transmission Plant and 12 at the Chicago Stamping Plant were also temporarily laid off.

United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain did not expand the union's strike Friday, but threatened Detroit's Big Three with more walkouts "at any time."

The new round of layoffs makes for 2,480 Ford automakers currently not working, as roughly 34,000 United Auto Workers were striking. More than 400 other Ford workers in metro Detroit were laid off from a Livonia Transmission plant, while 520 Stellantis workers were told not to show up for work at a downriver engine plant. GM also laid off an addition 200 workers.

So far, the strike has cost the industry $5.5 billion, which includes $579 million in lost wages for workers and $2.6 billion in losses for automakers, according to an economic assessment from East Lansing-based Anderson Economic Group.

The historic UAW strike against Detroit's Big Three began on Sept. 8 after the union's contract expired without a new one in place. It's the first time ever the union launched a strike against all three automakers at the same time.