Ford and General Motors laid off a combined 500 staffers as the ongoing United Auto Workers’ strike has a ripple effect through the industry.
Ford furloughed 330 workers on Monday after being forced to idle two factories in Chicago that supply parts to a plant in Michigan behind the Ford Explorer and Lincoln Aviator SUV, as well as an engine plant in Lima, Ohio, where their employees walked off the job.
Ford had already laid off 600 staffers from its Michigan Assembly Plant, which produces the Ford Bronco and Ranger models.
“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,” a Ford spokesperson told The Post.
“These are not lockouts. 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 also told 130 workers reporting to metal-part makers near Cleveland, Ohio, and another 34 in central Indiana not to come to work starting this week.
The two plants produce parts used at GM assembly factories in Lansing, Mich. — where Chevy Traverse and Buick Enclave SUVs are made — that have been out of commission over UAW’s walkouts.
A GM spokesperson told The Post that “the affected team members are not expected to return until the strike has been resolved.”
“Since we are working under an expired labor agreement, there are no provisions for company-provided SUB-pay in this circumstance,” the spokesperson added.
“We have said repeatedly that nobody wins in a strike, and this is yet another demonstration of that fact. We will continue to bargain in good faith with the union to reach an agreement as quickly as possible.”
Separately, the UAW confirmed it presented a new contract offer to GM on Monday. GM said it received the counterproposal “but significant gaps remain.” The UAW also held a new round of bargaining with Chrysler-parent Stellantis.
Overall, some 25,000 workers across the Detroit Three automakers are still on the picket lines — 17% of the union’s 146,000 members at Ford, GM, and Jeep-maker Stellantis.
Rather than the hammer blow of a mass walkout the UAW has wielded historically, it has strategically played the companies against each other during its latest strike, which began on Sept. 15, using reprieves from the expansion of work stoppages as encouragement with different automakers the last two weeks.
On Friday, union president Shawn Fain expanded the strike to the Chicago Ford and GM plants, though it spared Stellantis after it agreed on last-minute concessions.
UAW has held out on shutting down plants vital to pickup truck production, Detroit’s biggest profit-makers.
“Despite our willingness to bargain, Ford and GM have refused to make meaningful progress,” Fain said in a video address Friday morning. He noted that prior to his announcement, the UAW had seen a “flurry” of interest from the companies on Friday morning.
Fain cited progress with Stellantis around the cost of living allowance payments, as well as the right to strike over product commitments and plant closures. Talks continue at all three companies.
“We are fed up with corporate greed and we are fed up with corporate excess. We are fed up with breaking our bodies for companies that take more and more and give less and less,” he said.
Fain said late last month that the union had made some progress in its negotiations with Ford, though it still hadn’t approved a cost-of-living allowance that the UAW was pleased with.
UAW autoworkers have been particularly vocal about getting higher wages, and benefits and the elimination of a two-tier wage system that pays newer workers far less.
Automakers have said the union’s demands would hurt profits as they try to compete with nonunion manufacturers like Tesla.
The union and the companies remain far apart on key economic issues. Fain has stuck with a demand for 40% pay hikes over a four-year contract, a position supported this week by President Biden. The companies have offered pay hikes of about 20%.
The UAW has a strike fund of $825 million and also faces potential strikes at Mack Trucks and three Detroit casinos. Workers on the picket lines receive $500 a week from the strike fund.