United Auto Workers in Louisville rally in September 2023 in support of striking workers at Ford plants in other cities. UAW members won a 25% increase in wages among other key improvements. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Liam Niemeyer).
The hardworking men and women at the Ford Blue Oval SK plant in Hardin County will vote on forming a union later this month. Their campaign to join the United Auto Workers is about winning safe working conditions, a voice on the job and affordable health care. But the vote is also a huge opportunity for every working-class Kentuckian across the state.
That’s because the challenges facing Kentucky auto workers in recent decades mirror what’s happened to the entire workforce. As our recent report at the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy shows, job quality in the Kentucky auto industry has declined as it has become less unionized. In the last decade, median production wages fell by $9,321 a year after taking inflation into account…