LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A group of Ford Motor Company investors sent a letter demanding answers on allegations of union busting at Kentucky’s BlueOval SK Battery plants earlier this month.
A nonprofit faith-based group sent the letter on May 1 ahead of Ford’s Shareholders meeting on May 8.
The letter showed 14 investors joining to voice their concerns with Ford and BlueOval SK and their Kentucky and Tennessee plants.
“We at ISAJ, we represent faith-based investors, who leverage their investments to promote, and pursue human rights, environmental and climate justice, racial equity and the common good,” said Aaron Acosta, program director for Investor Advocates for Social Justice.
The group claims to represent $58 billion in assets with the company. They are calling on the company to address concerns on anti-union activities at the plant, which Ford runs in partnership with Korean-based company SK On.
“Those questions were met with a couple of things, either ignorance that, okay, like, oh, we’ve never heard about this. Let’s look into it. Or just, you know, not addressing it at all. No substantive response,” Acosta said.
In a letter written to Ford’s Board of Directors, the group claims BlueOval sent anti-union flyers, stalled their efforts with the National Labor Relations Board and fired workers for attempting to organize. Halee Hadfield is one of the workers. She works in Incoming Quality Control.
“I need to know that I have a job to go to. That I’m not going to be replaced by A.I. or robots. And I need to know that I’m going to go to work and come home, this in the same condition, not just every single day, but long-term,” Hadfield said.
Back in January, workers with BlueOval SK filed their intention to unionize with the United Auto Workers Union.
But since then, they have been unable to get the union off the ground.
“Companies have human rights responsibilities and these are not just related to, you know, Ford, the Ford Motor Company, but rather they extend to different entities within their supply chain, and their business relationships and this include joint ventures,” Acosta said.
Regarding the community benefits agreement, Ford shared this statement in part:
“Ford wants residents in every community neighboring BlueOval City to benefit as the campus comes to life. We have worked diligently to hear directly from residents, community leaders and government officials who have been elected to represent the communities near BlueOval City. This feedback is at the heart of our community investment plans. Residents can see that their feedback has been incorporated in the Good Neighbor Plan, which is a $9 million investment into the communities around BlueOval City. What we hear most from residents is that they want to speak for themselves. Ford has been contacted by many groups that say they speak on behalf of residents, many of which are not from the area. It would not be feasible for us to engage with every third-party group that purports to speak on behalf of residents. We continue to welcome ideas from residents, who are encouraged to contact commrels@ford.com.”
BlueOval SK said in a statement:
“BlueOval SK is an independent company making its own decisions, including about employee relations.
We are excited about our future and strive to maintain our direct relationship with our employees. We celebrate and empower each team member to define their own success by speaking for themselves.
BlueOval SK team members are free to choose whether to keep a direct relationship with leaders or turn over their voice to a labor union. BlueOval SK supports the U.S. labor law requirement that a substantial and representative compliment of the employees impacted by this choice have the opportunity to vote.”
