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Starkman: So Much for MAGA -- Ford Dumps Woman-Owned Auto Hauler Employing 1,700 Teamsters After 40 Year Partnership

January 08, 2025, 5:44 PM

The writer, a Los Angeles freelancer and former Detroit News business reporter, writes a  blog, Starkman Approved

By Eric Starkman

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When supposedly union supporter Joe Biden was still believed to be functioning as America’s president, Ford CEO Jim Farley bragged that the Dearborn automaker employed more UAW workers than its rivals.

“We’re proud to be the largest employer of UAW workers,” Farley posted on LinkedIn in advance of contract talks. “Generations of plant workers are what make Ford Motor Company so special. Bill Ford is right. The most important thing is reaching an agreement that gives our workers a better life today, while also ensuring a bright future for the next generation.”

Donald Trump, no fan of unions and so far, all talk when it comes to protecting the working class and addressing America’s growing wealth disparity, hasn’t yet assumed office and Ford is already singing a different tune. Ford has notified Jack Cooper Transport, the company’s auto hauler for 40 years, that it plans to terminate its more than 40-year long partnership. The news was exclusively reported by John Kingston of the trade publication FreightWaves.   


Jack Cooper Transport photo

According to Kingston, Ford’s dumping of a longtime vendor came without warning or explanation, leading to some speculation that the status of the Jack Cooper drivers as members of the Teamsters union was a key reason for the termination. Jack Cooper has approximately 2,500 employees. About 1,700 of them are members of the Teamsters, Kingston reported.

That Ford would treat a longstanding vendor so shabbily comes as no surprise. Ford was ranked second to last in 2024 supplier relationships, no doubt a contributing factor for the automaker’s industry leadership for safety recalls.

Sources close to Jack Cooper told Kingston that Ford didn’t suggest it was dropping the auto hauler for performance reasons and the carrier had regularly met all its required performance standards under the terms of the contract. An internal document obtained by FreightWaves said Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notices of pending layoffs have been listed for Jack Cooper employees in Dearborn and Wayne, communities that includes or abuts the district of Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a rabid critic of Donald Trump.

'All In On America'

As I’d expect from a company with substantial operations in Mexico and India yet boasts on its website that it is “All In On America,” Ford told Kingston that  that the unionization status of the Jack Cooper workers was not a factor in its decision. Ford’s statement was typical of the shuck and jive spouted by the automaker’s brigade of PR persons.

“We do not comment on our contracts or relationships with individual suppliers,” a Ford spokeswoman told Kingston, who unfortunately he didn’t identify. “We manage supplier relationships in line with our sourcing strategy, designed to enable us to best serve our customers.”


Sean O’Brien (Teamsters photo)

As is his practice, Teamsters president Sean O’Brien didn’t mince words about Ford’s decision.

“By taking steps to end its relationship with Jack Cooper, the Ford Motor Company has officially threatened the livelihoods of more than 1,400 Teamsters-represented carhaul workers and their families,” O’Brien said in a statement. “Ford, a once iconic American brand, wants to boost its own bottom line by walking away from a family-owned company and into the arms of second-rate third parties that will pay workers less money and far fewer benefits to haul Ford vehicles.”

O’Brien called the move “shameful and un-American.”

Kingston reported that Jack Cooper is a family-owned business after going through bankruptcy in 2020 and hedge fund ownership. Its current executive chair, Sarah Amico, is from the family that owns the Kansas City, MO-based company, and her ownership stake makes it a certified Women-Owned Business Enterprise (WBE).


Sarah Amico

Typical of Ford’s corporate forked tongue, the automaker boasts on its website that its DEI North Star includes supporting women-owned businesses. HERImpact was created by the Ford Fund, the philanthropic arm of the Ford Motor Company, in partnership with 1863 Ventures, and was designed for female entrepreneurs to help scale their businesses through coaching and funding.

Ford in 2021 announced it was working with its international nonprofit and grantmaking partners to support and promote a pilot program that would empower women working in the copper and cobalt supply chains in the Democratic Republic of Congo. 

The Teamsters didn’t endorse a 2024 presidential candidate, but O’Brien made public a poll showing that most of his members supported Trump. Unlike Farley and GM CEO Mary Barra, who have each committed $1 million in corporate funds and agreed to supply vehicles to Trump’s inauguration despite insiders at both companies supporting Kamala Harris, O’Brien refuses to suck up to Trump.

O'Brien and Bernie

O’Brien last week posted on X that he agreed with Sen. Bernie Sanders that the H-1B guest visa program “displaces US workers and allows billionaire tech employers to exploit foreign workers.”

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Elon Musk

H-1B visas are popular with Big Tech companies, which allows them to hire foreign workers, mostly from India, in the U.S. Trump advisors Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy want to expand the program, saying that Americans are essentially too dumb and lazy to perform critical software and other high-tech engineering jobs. Critics of H-1B visas say companies use them to hire cheaper and more obedient labor. H-1B workers risk having to return to their home countries if they lose their jobs.

According to Bloomberg, a decade’s worth of records from the U.S. Department of Labor shows that outsourcing companies used by U.S. corporations have used H-1B visas mostly to fill lower-level positions, such as IT system analysts and administrators. Fewer than 20% of the 6,400 visa holders outsourcer Cognizant has sponsored since 2020 had a master’s degree or higher, according to data from the US Citizenship and Immigration Services. At companies such as Amazon.com Inc., Apple Inc. and Meta Platforms Inc., that figure is only about 60%.

O’Brien’s opposition to U.S. companies using foreign workers to keep U.S. wages low could impact Michigan’s healthcare industry, particularly in Metro Detroit. Michigan hospitals say there is a shortage of nurses, forcing them to fill healthcare positions with foreign workers, particularly from Canada.

Henry Ford Health boasts on its website that it is home to 911 registered nurses and 182 allied health professionals who are Canadian citizens. “We consider them our family, and we are ready to welcome [other Canadians] as well!”

Henry Ford previously committed to hiring 600 registered nurses from the Philippines by 2025  as part of a historic international hiring wave.

However, union organizers responsible for more than 9,000 Metro Detroit Corewell nurses joining the Teamsters told me there are 50,000 registered nurses in Michigan who left their profession because working conditions have become intolerable and pay remains depressed. Corewell’s nurses in western Michigan are also looking to join the Teamsters, and the union is on the record saying it has been approached by nurses from other Michigan hospitals.

Michigan Nurses

If the Teamsters become the union representing the majority of Michigan nurses statewide, the union could be in a powerful position to negotiate improved nursing wages and demand that American-trained nurses be given priority in hiring.

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President-elect Donald Trump

While Donald Trump talks a good game about boosting the economic fortunes of working-class and middle-income Americans, indications are Wall Street thinks he’s all bluster with his promises to impose punitive tariffs on Mexican and Canadian imports.

GM is Mexico’s biggest vehicle manufacturer and builds some of its most profitable trucks and SUVs there, as well as its EV Blazer and EV Equinox. Ford proudly builds the electric version of its iconic Mustang in Mexico, as well as its Maverick pickups and Bronco Sports. Ford’s Mexico engineering facility is the biggest in Latin America.

Yet GM’s and Ford’s stock haven't been severely impacted since Trump’s election. Indeed, GM began building its EV Cadillac Optiq in Mexico in October, signaling that CEO Barra either didn’t expect Trump’s resounding victory or didn’t believe Trump would eventually make good on his tariff threats.

Michigan would be severely impacted by Trump’s threatened tariffs. Michigan and Ontario have the largest trade relationship between any Canadian province and U.S. state. In 2022, over 8 per cent of the annual trade between the U.S. and Canada was between Ontario and Michigan.

In July 2023, Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Ontario Premier Doug Ford signed an economic agreement to promote increased trade, attract investment, and encourage job creation in both jurisdictions. They said the new strategic investment and procurement agreement (SIPA) would support joint initiatives and the creation of new programs for businesses in priority areas, including electric vehicles and related supply chains.

Reach the writer at Eric@starkmanapproved.com. Confidentiality is assured.



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