Ford Motor Co. CEO Jim Farley said Thursday the UAW decision to strike Ford truck production last year has changed the relationship between the automaker that employs the most hourly workers in the U.S. and the union that represents them.
“It was an extremely difficult moment for the company,” Farley said during remarks to the Wolfe Research Global Auto and Auto Tech Conference in New York. “It’s been a watershed moment for the company. Does it have a business impact? Yes.”
Ford, which has an old history of brutality against union organizers, has prided itself in recent years on having the strongest relationship with the United Auto Workers.
The Dearborn automaker employs some 57,000 hourly workers in the U.S., “far beyond the other competitors,” and all the full-size trucks are built in the U.S., Farley said. “My competitors do not do that. They went through bankruptcy and they moved production” to Mexico and other places.
“And so, it’s always been a cost for us, and we always thought it was the right kind of cost,” Farley said. “Our reliance on the UAW turned out to be — we were the first truck plant they shut down . That was a moment for us. Clearly our relationship has changed.”