DETROIT – Ford Motor Co. has given up its promised contract to invest $ 900 million in an assembly plant outside of Cleveland for an unnamed product line that will instead be produced in Mexico, United Auto Workers officials said.
“We 100% reject the company’s decision to put corporate greed and more potential profits on American jobs and the future of our members,” UAW vice president and director Gerald Kariem said in a letter to union members late last week.
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The promised investment at the Lake Avon assembly plant in Ohio was made during contract negotiations in 2019. The plant currently has about 1,700 workers per hour producing Ford E-series trucks and Super Duty trucks.
Kariem said UAW asked Ford officials to explain the decision, but received limited information so far.
Plant manager Jason Moore sent a letter to workers saying conditions had changed around the promised expansion. Ford is investing in the Avon Lake plant and will increase production of Super Duty trucks there, Moore said.
Ford spokesman Kelli Felker declined to say what vehicle the company plans to make in Mexico.