You go on strike, I'll hire people! The US automotive industry is witnessing an "extreme tug-of-war" during a major strike.

The ongoing strike in the US automotive industry is spreading to more and more factories, and an increasing number of non-striking automotive workers are facing "temporary layoffs" due to factory shutdowns. The two sides are increasingly deadlocked.

On Monday, Ford announced that it would lay off an additional 550 workers at several of its plants in the Midwest, citing the sudden strike by the United Auto Workers (UAW) at its largest plant last week, which has affected factory operations.

Last Thursday, 8,700 UAW members at Ford's SUV and truck plant in Kentucky went on strike. UAW President Shawn Fain said the strike expanded because Ford refused to "take further action in bargaining."

Ford spokesperson Dan Barbossa said the targeted strike by the UAW had a ripple effect on the non-striking plants:

In this situation, the strikes at the Kentucky truck plant and the Chicago assembly plant directly affected the operations of several other plants.

This is not a temporary shutdown... These layoffs are a result of the strike, as these six plants have to reduce production of components that are usually shipped to the Kentucky truck plant and/or the Chicago assembly plant.

Big Strike → Big Layoffs

Wall Street News previously reported that the ongoing strike by US automotive workers is leading to large-scale layoffs by car companies.

Layoffs are not limited to Ford internally - although Ford is one of the three giants that laid off workers early on - in September, Stellantis, the parent company of Chrysler, announced the dismissal of 68 employees and placed another 300 employees on temporary leave; subsequently, General Motors closed a manufacturing plant in Kansas, resulting in the dismissal of almost all employees, involving about 2,000 people.

Automakers say that temporary layoffs are mainly due to disruptions in the production chain caused by the strike.

General Motors said that the plant closure was because most of the remaining employees in the factory had nothing to do due to the strike, and the company stated that it could not apply for unemployment benefits for laid-off employees in this "special situation."

According to reports, so far, Ford has laid off a total of 2,480 people due to this round of strikes.

In addition, Liz Door, Ford's Chief Supply Chain Officer, expects that if the strike continues, more workers will have to be temporarily laid off:

If the duration extends, it could have a significant impact because it would expand to our other Ford plants. We estimate that between 325,000 and 500,000 people could be laid off.

UAW President Shawn Fain previously criticized Ford and General Motors' layoffs, saying that these companies are trying to pressure UAW members:

Let's be clear: if the Big Three decide to lay off those who are not participating in the strike, it is their attempt to pressure our members to reduce wages. With record profits, they don't need to lay off any employees. In fact, they could double the wages of every autoworker without raising car prices and still make billions of dollars. Their plan won't succeed. The UAW will ensure that any workers who were recently laid off in the attack on the Big Three automakers won't lose their income. We will organize for one more day than they do and do our best to win economic and social justice among the Big Three.

Last Thursday, Kumar Galhotra, a senior executive and President of Ford's traditional business, stated that the company has reached its limit in terms of economic concessions offered to the United Auto Workers (UAW):

"We are very clear that we have reached our limit. We have done our best to get to this point."