LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A key supplier to Ford Motor Co.'s Kentucky Truck Plant is mired in a contract dispute with its rank-and-file workers.
About 100 United Auto Workers members at Dakkota Integrated Systems rejected the company's "last, best and final" contract offer in a vote earlier this month.
While members earlier voted unanimously to authorize a strike, the union and the company continue to negotiate, UAW Local 3058 President Tom Williams told WDRB News.
"We're back at the table," Williams said. He declined to elaborate on the issues at stake in the talks.
Dakkota Integrated Systems, a privately held firm based in Brighton, Mich., did not respond to a request for comment. The union's contract with the firm expired May 31, Williams said.
Dakkota operates four facilities in close proximity to Ford truck plant in eastern Jefferson County, each of which is affected by the contract negotiations, according to Williams.
The company "sequences" parts for the truck plant, organizing and delivering parts so that Ford workers can quickly install them, according to a source familiar with the truck plant's operation.
"We provide seamless delivery of components to reduce time, labor and materials costs," Dakkota says in its website.
Kentucky Truck is Ford's largest factory and an important source of profits for the company. When the UAW called about 9,000 Kentucky Truck employees to the picket line last fall, Ford said the factory alone generates $25 billion in revenue a year.
Kentucky Truck builds F-Series Super Duty pickups and the Ford Expedition / Lincoln Navigator sport utility vehicles.
After launching a refreshed Super Duty last year and enduring about a two-week strike of Kentucky Truck last October, Ford has ramped up production at the plant. The company churned out the most heavy-duty trucks there in the first quarter of 2024 than in at least five years, according to WDRB's analysis of Ford figures.
A spokesman for Ford did not immediately provide a comment.
Copyright 2024 WDRB Media. All Rights Reserved.
