Ford should keep its promises to workers

Ford Motor Co.'s promises apparently aren't built to last. The company committed itself to build a new vehicle at the Ohio Assembly Plant starting in 2023 when it negotiated a new contract with the United Auto Workers in 2019. The "next-generation" vehicle will instead go to a plant in Mexico, Gerald Kariem, a UAW vice president focused on Ford, wrote in a letter to union members last week. "We 100% reject the company's decision to put corporate greed and more potential profits over American jobs and the future of our members," Kariem wrote. "We expect the company to honor its contractual commitments to this membership and when it fails to do so we will take action." What form that action will take remains to be seen, but the union is absolutely right to fight the company's disappointing decision, and not just because of what the union and Lorain County stand to lose. When Ford and the union announced the expansion, they said it would mean a $900 million investment in the plant and approximately 1,500 new jobs. It accounted for nearly one-sixth of the $6 billion in investments in U.S. plants to which Ford committed itself in 2019. Ford officials are trying to soften the blow by playing up what the automaker has done for Ohio Assembly, which straddles Avon Lake, Sheffield Village and Sheffield Lake. The plant's roughly 1,740 workers produce F-650 and F-750 Medium Duty trucks, the F-350, F-450 and F-550 Super Duty chassis cab, the E-Series cutaway and stripped chassis. Jason Moore, the plant's manager, told employees in a letter that the conditions upon which Ford based its 2019 commitments "have changed" and that it "is investing in the plant and increasing production of Super Duty trucks." With regard to Super Duty trucks, Moore wrote that the company was adding more than 100 employees, including some this year. He also wrote there would be continued investment "to add overall capacity, increase Super Duty production, launch updated new models, and modernize the facility totaling more than $185 million in the three years from 2019 to 2021." That's great, but it's not all that Ford promised. If nothing else, union members will be less inclined to believe the company's promises when the contract expires in 2023 and negotiations on a new one begin. Nor is it entirely clear what has changed Ford's plans. Perhaps it was the pandemic. Perhaps the new "next-generation" vehicle can be made more cheaply in Mexico while still adhering to the terms of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement signed during the Trump administration. The company isn't saying. Instead, Ford officials are falling back on platitudes about how "invested" the automaker is in Ohio Assembly and its workers. Jonathan Jennings, Ford's vice president of global commodity purchasing and supplier technical assistance, wouldn't even confirm or deny the union's claim about the new product line shifting to Mexico when U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Cleveland, pressed him Tuesday during a Senate Finance Committee hearing. Instead, he toed the company line. "We are invested at that facility, and we're looking to actually increase the capacity that facility provides from a Super Duty truck perspective, for such a strong demand," he said. Brown condemned Ford's decision "to turn its back on the community" as "just unacceptable." He also promised that his pushback wouldn't be the last Ford would get from him or the Biden administration. Nor should it be. When Ford's commitment to invest in Ohio Assembly and build a new vehicle there was announced to great fanfare, it came as a relief that Ford saw the plant as a part of its long-term strategy. That's never a sure thing in the auto industry. Ford shuttered its Lorain Assembly Plant years ago, and Ohio Assembly has been through multiple vehicles during its history. General Motors closed its Lordstown plant in 2019, and although a new electric truck manufacturer has moved into the plant, it doesn't have nearly as many employees as GM did during its heyday. Ohio Assembly still appears to have a place in Ford's future, which is to the good, but the automaker should follow through on its commitment to the union and the community. Ford's promises should be as tough as its trucks.