LOUISVILLE, Ky. —— Ford, the nation’s largest employer of UAW autoworkers, will reveal plans to design and build a new electric vehicle and EV platform at an August 11th event that CEO Jim Farley likens to a “Model-T moment.” The announcement will be made at Ford’s Louisville Assembly Plant in Kentucky, fifty miles north of an EV battery plant operated by Ford’s joint venture, BlueOval SK, where the National Labor Relations Board recently announced a union election will be held on August 26 and 27.
In response, Senior Researcher Eric Dixon issued the following statement:
“Ford is launching its EV future at a union assembly plant while an hour down the road, its joint venture is fighting unionization where the batteries for next-generation Ford EVs will likely be sourced.
As I’ve written previously, corporate resistance at the BlueOval SK plant is shortsighted. Unions are the bedrock of a thriving middle class, helping ensure safe working conditions and family-supporting wages and benefits for the workers that make our economy hum. Ford’s strategy to build out the future of EVs can not only help our kids breathe cleaner air, it has the potential to revive communities that have endured economic stagnation for far too long.
But EV jobs must be good jobs, with fair pay and protections. Otherwise, we risk perpetuating a cycle of chasing economic growth for its own sake — rather than for its ability to provide Kentuckians with real livelihoods.
As Ford gears up for a historic, ‘Model-T moment’ on the future of EV manufacturing, they have an opportunity to recognize labor as a fundamental component of automotive innovation. The BlueOval SK battery plant, a joint venture of Ford and SK On, could become a national model, not just for technological innovation, but for how to treat working families right. A critical first step on that path is ensuring workers can choose whether or not to join a union in a fair election free from employer influence.”
When workers at the battery facility filed for a union election in January, BlueOval SK urged the NLRB to dismiss or delay the election, claiming a vote would be “premature.” Management subsequently launched a campaign to deter workers from unionizing, including hiring consultants and “union-avoidance” lawyers, and running anti-union ads. The company faces multiple allegations of unfair labor practices, including firing workers for union sympathies, threatening to close the plant if workers support unionization, and holding a captive audience meeting. The Ohio River Valley Institute recently released a report investigating the anti-union efforts at the BlueOval SK facility.
Research from the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy (KyPolicy) suggests unionization at the BlueOval SK plant would “result in significant job improvements and could help pave the way for better jobs across Kentucky’s auto industry and even beyond. Because of the prominent and pervasive role of the auto industry in the state, increased unionization could create ripple effects in other workplaces.” The auto industry is a large and growing employer in Kentucky, but job quality has been on the decline, per KyPolicy research.
For a timeline of the unionization effort at the BlueOval SK facility, visit https://ohiorivervalleyinstitute.org/blueoval-sk-development-timeline/.
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