Ford Under Fire By UAW Locals For COVID-19 Safety Measures At Two F-150 Plants

Ford (F) has come under criticism by local United Auto Workers (UAW) because they reportedly claim that the automaker is not taking the necessary steps to keep workers safe at two F-150 truck production plants amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The F-150 plants in Dearborn, Michigan, and Kansas City, Missouri, received complaints from local UAW unions as multiple workers contracted COVID-19 since Ford reopened the facilities on May 18, Bloomberg reported.

The UAW headquarters had previously said that an early-May reopen date was too soon for the Big Three automakers to keep members safe. The UAW and automakers, Ford, GM, and Fiat Chrysler, came to an agreement on the May 18 start date, but the union is calling for more testing for its members.

In Dearborn, the UAW Local has called for additional break time for workers that are wearing masks 10 hours a day and 24-hour plant shutdowns for cleaning after a worker tests positive for COVID-19, the Detroit Free Press reported.

In Kansas City, the UAW Local posted on its Facebook page, “The company is backsliding on its public commitment to put people over production and profits during the ongoing Covid-19 crisis.”

Ford reportedly denies the claims against it, saying that it is following the protocols that it has laid out in playbook for returning to work during the coronavirus pandemic, which was created in conjunction with the UAW.

Gary Johnson, chief manufacturing officer at Ford, told Bloomberg, the company has been following the back-to-work playbook “to a T.

“We’re going to learn together. We communicate every day and we’re working with the local units on some of the issues that came up and we’ll fix whatever they suggest,” he said.

Shares of Ford stock were up 1.45% as of 11:19 a.m. EDT on Thursday.