Car hauling company Jack Cooper will close its operation in Wayne just weeks after Ford Motor Co. terminated its longstanding contract with the trucking firm without offering a reason why.
In a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notice filed with the state, Jack Cooper’s head of human resources said the company is permanently terminating its operations in Wayne and 89 employees associated with the facility there are expected to be let go on Feb. 2. Of those, 75 are union jobs.
Jack Cooper also has a facility in Dearborn with eight employees, five of whom are union-represented. There is no WARN filing on that facility yet, but earlier this month the company told the Detroit Free Press it is likely to see job loss as well. No one from the company immediately responded to a request for comment on the closure of the Wayne facility.
A Jack Cooper hauler loaded with Ford vehicles. Ford Motor Co. has canceled its long-time contract with Jack Cooper.
As the Detroit Free Press reported on Jan. 8, Ford ended its decadeslong contract with Jack Cooper, a move that angered the Teamsters union — which indicated it will fight for the 1,400 union jobs at the hauling company. Given that Ford was Jack Cooper’s second-largest client behind General Motors, losing the contract created what its CEO told the Detroit Free Press is an “existential crisis” for the company, endangering its future.
GM spokesman Kevin Kelly confirmed Monday that GM is still using Jack Cooper to haul its vehicles.
Outside of Michigan, the affected facilities include: Avon Lake, Ohio; Liberty, Missouri; Cottage Grove, Minnesota, and Louisville, Kentucky. A WARN notice filed in Missouri earlier this month shows the company is permanently closing its facility in Liberty, affecting 406 jobs, according to KMBC news in Missouri. In Ohio, local publications reported the company is closing a facility near Avon Lake, affecting 53 jobs.
More: US agency sues two automakers, alleging discrimination and harassment
The contract with Ford was not set to expire on Feb. 2, but it did have a clause that would allow Ford to end it sooner. The automaker offered no explanation for its decision, people at Jack Cooper told the Free Press.
“I am disappointed to see the end of a 40-year partnership and I’m disappointed for the employees it will impact and the jobs that will be lost,” Jack Cooper CEO Sarah Amico said at the time.
Ford spokeswoman Ursula Muller declined to confirm or deny the change in Ford’s relationship with Jack Cooper, telling the Free Press in statement earlier this month, “We do not comment on our contracts or relationships with individual suppliers. We manage supplier relationships in line with our sourcing strategy, designed to enable us to best serve our customers.”
But according to a person familiar with Ford’s decision, the move to terminate the contract is not related to union representation or the hauler’s performance. Rather, Jack Cooper’s history of financial distress and instability — it filed for federal bankruptcy protection in 2019 — has been among Ford’s concerns, this person said. The person asked to not be named because they are not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
Jack Cooper is working to arrange new financing. Leaders fear the Ford move could disrupt that process.
A spokesperson for the Teamsters did not have an updated comment on this latest development and referred to the statement by Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien earlier this month when he called Ford’s move “shameful” and “un-American” and urging Ford to reverse the decision. O’Brien had said he is “prepared to use the full force of the Teamsters Union to defend our members and protect honorable union jobs in America.”
More: Michigan car dealers on guard as the number of customers with fake IDs increases
Jamie L. LaReau is the senior autos writer who covers Ford Motor Co. for the Detroit Free Press. Contact Jamie at jlareau@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @jlareauan. To sign up for our autos newsletter. Become a subscriber.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Jack Cooper set to close Wayne plant after Ford cancels contract
#Car #hauler #set #close #Wayne #plant #Ford #cancels #Jack #Cooper #contract
Leave a Reply