Ford offers unpaid leave to UAW factory workers at Louisville Assembly Plant in Kentucky

Ford Motor Co. is offering workers personal unpaid leave from the Louisville Assembly Plant in Kentucky, which the UAW has said is directly affected by the strike at the nearby Kentucky Truck Plant, the Detroit Free Press has learned.

In a labor relations bulletin to UAW members dated Oct. 20 and obtained by the Free Press, workers are told they may select a two-week period for unpaid leave with an application deadline of Oct. 25. They would not be eligible for unemployment payments.

The Ford letter says the offer is open to final area assemblers only. The plant employs 3,227 hourly workers who build the Ford Escape and Lincoln Corsair, according to the Ford corporate website with plant information that was updated in mid-September.

Conditions of the unpaid leave(s) of absence include but would not be limited to:

• Unpaid personal leave(s) will be granted in two-week increments, Monday through Sunday.
• Employees selected will be based upon staffing needs of the department.
• The total number of employees selected will be distributed between shifts.
• If an employee is selected for the unpaid personal leave, the decision is irrevocable.
• Employees who take a leave will remain active and eligible for holiday pay and ratification bonus, if applicable.

Ford employees at Louisville Assembly who are interested in requesting unpaid personal leave must complete a form and return it to plant labor relations.

UAW Local 862 President Todd Dunn couldn't be immediately reached to discuss the offer affecting his members. On Oct. 12, Dunn said taking out the Kentucky Truck Plant could lead to Louisville Assembly Plant and Ohio Assembly quickly folding because they rely on the truck plant for stamping, among other things.

But Ford, which did not respond to requests for comment until after this article published, sent a statement Wednesday that said, "We are offering voluntary schedule adjustments at Louisville Assembly Plant as part of our normal course of business, not related to the UAW strike.”

When asked about the offer as "a normal course of business," Ford spokeswoman Jessica Enoch did not say how frequently Ford offers unpaid personal time off to hourly workers.

Choice vs. mandate

This invitation approach is clearly a cost reduction measure but it's a more humane way of doing it rather than a strict across-the-board layoff, Marick Masters, professor at the Mike Ilitch School of Business at Wayne State University, said Wednesday.

More:Hitting Ford hard moved GM, Stellantis to improve UAW offers, observers say

Allowing people to choose personal unpaid leave takes time for a company to organize but it also helps reduce the hardship by allowing those who self-select the time off to help their colleagues who can least afford it.

Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, which owns Chrysler, Ram, Jeep and Dodge, have announced thousands of employee layoffs since the UAW picketing began Sept. 15. Contract negotiations are ongoing.

It's unclear what impact a tentative agreement to end the UAW strike against Ford would have on the matter.

Content in this story was further edited and updated after the story published.

Contact Phoebe Wall Howard: 313-618-1034 or phoward@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @phoebesaid.