WASHINGTON — The United Auto Workers strike has expanded again. 8,700 members walked off the job at Ford’s Kentucky Truck Plant Wednesday evening.

In an interview with Spectrum News, Rep. Morgan McGarvey, D-Ky., expressed his support for the union from Washington.

“Louisville has so long been a union town and Ford town,” McGarvey said. “We want to make sure that our workers continue to have good wages, a good contract, great benefits so that they can retire and continue to have a good life so our hope is that they can get that and that Ford and UAW can get back to the table but we support our workers.”

Unable to come to a contract agreement with the “Big Three” automakers, UAW members have been walking out of Ford, General Motors and Stellantis shops since mid-September.

The Louisville walkout is a big one, targeting Ford’s largest and most profitable facility.

“I’m glad that they are negotiating this contract right now because when you get down to it, it’s really simple,” McGarvey said. “The people who build Ford trucks should be able to buy Ford trucks and that’s what’s at stake in these contract negotiations.”

“The decision by the UAW to call a strike at Ford’s Kentucky Truck Plant is grossly irresponsible but unsurprising given the union leadership’s stated strategy of keeping the Detroit 3 wounded for months through “reputational damage” and “industrial chaos,” Ford said in a statement.

A recent AP-NORC poll showed that the majority of Americans support higher wages for auto workers, but there’s less support for some of the union’s other demands. About a third of Americans support mandating the use of union labor for electric vehicles and their parts as well as the pitch for a four-day workweek. 

A couple of weeks ago, President Joe Biden, who often refers to himself as the most pro-union president in American history, showed support for the strike becoming the first sitting president to join a picket line.

McGarvey said that if it wasn’t for the ongoing House speaker election on Capitol Hill that he would already be standing with the UAW members outside the Ford plant. He said plans to join them as soon as he returns to his district.