Ford Motor said Thursday it was planning to do Invest $ 3.7 billion The Midwest facility, mostly for the production of electric vehicles, said the company would create more than 6,000 union jobs in the region.
“We are investing in American jobs and employees to create a new generation of great Ford cars,” Jim Farley, president and chief executive officer of the company, said in a statement. “To transform the company into the next era of American manufacturing, we need a new way of working.”
A joint announcement with the United Auto Workers detailed investment in three states. Ford announced that it will invest $ 2 billion to create approximately 3,200 union jobs in Michigan. This includes those related to the production of the company’s most notable and most important bet on electric vehicles, the new F-150 Lightning pickup truck.
In Ohio, Ford will spend more than $ 1.5 billion and will create nearly 2,000 union jobs, primarily to build commercial electric vehicles in the middle of the last decade. The company also announced that it will add more than 1,000 union jobs at its assembly plant in Kansas City, Missouri, to produce commercial vans, some gas-powered and some electricity.
The company suggested that some investment would be made, such as expanding the production capacity of the F-150 in Michigan, but did not elaborate on its scale.
The move follows Ford’s announcement that it will build four plants in Kentucky and Tennessee (three battery plants for electric vehicles and a truck assembly plant).
In addition to the new Midwestern jobs, Ford said it would convert about 3,000 temporary jobs to full-time jobs by the date the contract with the UAW requires. This was after two years of employment.
“”We always insist on employers and legislators that the work of the union is worth the investment, “UAW President Ray Curry said in a statement. “Ford has stepped up to the plate by adding these jobs and converting 3,000 UAW members to lucrative full-time full-time status.”
Sam Buelsamid, an automotive industry analyst at Guidehouse Insights, said the change will help Ford attract and retain its workforce in a tough job market while avoiding costly labor insecurity during negotiations for contracts that will expire next year. He said it could help. We are spending billions of dollars on the transition to electric vehicles. A six-week strike by General Motors workers in 2019 cost the company billions of dollars.
“I’m convinced that one of the things Ford definitely wants to avoid is the possibility of a strike,” Abuel Samid said. “It is in their interest to maintain a positive relationship with the UAW.”
However, this investment is unlikely to significantly reduce the widespread threat that the transition to electric vehicles poses to employment in the automotive workers’ union and the US automotive manufacturing industry. stand At about 1 million.
“It’s about changing the perception of what’s going on,” said Abuelsamid. “It’s an act of balancing between your workforce and your investors.” They want labor costs to rise more slowly or fall at coalition car makers like Ford and General Motors. increase.
Electric vehicles require far less moving parts than gasoline vehicles, so they require significantly less effort. 30 percent Less, according to the numbers generated by Ford.
As a result, it is estimated that the cost of electrification to the work of the automotive industry can be significant without large new government subsidies. A report Released by the Liberal Institute for Economic Policy in September. tie For an organized workforce, it turns out that the automotive industry could lose about 75,000 jobs by 2030 without substantial government investment.
In contrast, the report states that the industry could add about 150,000 jobs over the same period if additional government subsidies promote domestic manufacturing of parts and a larger market share of vehicles assembled in the United States. I found that I have sex.
President Biden has supported large subsidies for electric vehicles, including those manufactured by union members, but these measures have stagnated in the Senate and the outlook is uncertain.
On the other hand, much of the employment growth related to electric vehicles is owned entirely or partially by non-union facilities owned by new automakers such as Tesla, Rivian and Lucid, or by foreign companies such as Korean manufacturer SK Innovation. It occurs at a battery facility based in the United States. And LG Chem.
In a statement Thursday, Ford said a new battery and vehicle production facility in the South would create about 11,000 jobs. However, these employees do not automatically become union members, and workers in these states tend to face difficult battles in union formation.
But for investors, additional investment in electric vehicles seems welcome news, as Ford is trying to reform itself in competition with Tesla, Rivian and others. Ford’s share price, which fell sharply this year, rose more than 2% on Thursday.
Ford Said again On Thursday, we sold 6,254 electric vehicles in May. This is an increase of more than 200% over the previous year. That number includes 201 F-150 Lightnings, which the company began production in April.
The company has about 200,000 bookings for Lightning, which is at the heart of its efforts to catch up with Tesla, and has stopped accepting new ones as it takes months to meet demand.
Ford pointed out that truck sales will increase significantly in the coming months as production increases and trucks in transit arrive at dealers. Ford aims to produce 150,000 Lightning trucks annually by the end of 2023.
Sales of electric vehicles (and conventional vehicles) have been limited by a shortage of computer chips. Ford’s new car sales in May were down 4.5% year-on-year. Vehicle executives are also increasingly concerned that the supply of lithium, nickel, and other raw materials needed to make batteries that power electric vehicles is not keeping up with the growing demand for these vehicles. doing.
Vikas Bajaj Report that contributed.