Ford, GM Temporarily Lay Off 500 More Workers Amid United Auto Workers’ Strikes

Ford Motor Co. and General Motors laid off another combined 500 workers on Monday, with automakers placing the blame on the expanded United Auto Workers’ strikes.

Ford announced late Monday that about 330 employees at its Chicago stamping plant and Lima engine plant in Ohio were asked not to report to work. The automaker said that the “the UAW's targeted strike strategy has knock-on effects for facilities that are not directly targeted for a work stoppage."

The UAW on Friday called on another 7,000 autoworkers to strike against Ford's Chicago Assembly Plant and GM's Lansing-Delta Township facility in Michigan, which brought the total number of workers striking the Big Three automakers to 25,000. 

The stamping plant employs approximately 1,290 workers and the engine plant employs about 1,530. The new wave of layoffs, in addition to the 600 layoffs at its Wayne, Michigan Assembly Plant on Sept. 15, brings Ford's total strike-related layoffs to 930 employees.

"These are not lock outs," Ford said in its statement. "These layoffs are a consequence of the strike at Chicago Assembly Plant, because these two facilities must reduce production of parts that would normally be shipped to Chicago Assembly Plant."

GM, too, furloughed 130 workers at its Parma, Ohio, metal center and its Marion, Ind., metal center on Monday. In total, the automaker's Ohio facility employs 960 people, while 717 individuals work at its Indiana metal center. Last month, GM temporarily laid off 2,000 workers at its Fairfax Assembly Plant in Kansas City, Kansas and idled the plant because of a parts shortage caused by the strikes.

Late last month, Stellantis laid off 68 employees at its Toledo Machining Plant in Perrysburg, Ohio, and said it could furlough more than 350 employees due to the strikes.

The union reached a tentative labor contract with Volvo Group's Mack Trucks on Sunday, avoiding a potential strike from another nearly 4,000 autoworkers in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Florida.

Recent estimates by Anderson Economic Group found that just two weeks in, the strikes have cost the automotive industry and customers nearly $4 billion. Suppliers were the hardest hit, having suffered $1.29 billion in losses, while dealer and customer losses totaled $1.2 billion. The Detroit Three have collectively lost $1.12 billion and the autoworkers have missed out on $325 million in direct wages.

Update 10/4/2023: This article was updated to include Ford's statement.