Automakers Ford and General Motors this week announced they will furlough around 500 employees across the Midwest after the United Auto Workers announced a strike expansion last week.
Ford on Monday said it will let go 330 workers in the Lima, Ohio, area while GM said it will lay off 164 workers across Ohio and Indiana.
The layoffs come after UAW announced Friday an expansion of the strike after negotiations failed to produce the union’s desired results. That day, UAW workers walked off the job at GM’s Lansing, Michigan, plant and a Ford facility in Chicago. The third of the big three automakers, Jeep maker Stellantis, was spared any part in the expansion.
Ford and GM’s recent layoffs are not the first. Last month, GM announced it would pause production at a factory in Fairfax, Kansas, due to the strike, laying off 2,000 workers in the process. Ford and Stellantis combined have furloughed just under 1,000 employees across the Midwest since the start of the strike.
The strike, which began Sept. 15, has put significant pressure on the big three. But they don’t seem ready to give the UAW everything it wants. UAW President Shawn Fain has been adamant in demanding a 40% pay raise, the reintroduction of pension plans and a four-day workweek.
According to an Anderson Economic Group estimate, the strike has cost the three carmakers more than $1 billion collectively and lost workers more than $300 million in wages.
• Vaughn Cockayne can be reached at vcockayne@washingtontimes.com.
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