Lear strike threatens Ford production

INDIANAPOLIS – Hundreds of workers protesting what some call fast food-like wages walked off the job Saturday at a Lear Corp. plant in northwest Indiana that makes automotive seats, beginning a strike that could affect a major Ford assembly plant in Chicago.

The plant, about 28 miles southeast of Chicago in Hammond, employs 760 workers making seats for the Explorer and Taurus models produced at Ford’s Chicago Assembly Plant. The Ford plant could be vulnerable to any serious supply chain disruption because it operates on a just-in-time basis.

Saturday’s strike shut down the Lear plant, according to a statement from the United Auto Workers.

Workers say they agreed to a two-tiered pay system that capped wages for newer hires as a way to help the company as it came out of bankruptcy, but that wages haven’t kept pace with the company’s recovery.