– May 1, 2025

With the Ford AGM taking place in exactly one week, Investor Advocates for Social Justice (“IASJ”) and investors collectively representing more than USD $58 billion AUM are calling on Ford’s Board of Directors to explain to investors, at the May 8 AGM, how Ford plans to effectively address concerns regarding union avoidance and exclusion of Black communities related to its joint venture, BlueOval SK (“BlueOval”). 

BlueOval is a 50/50 joint venture between Ford and Korean company, SK On, that was formed in 2021. It is currently constructing three battery plants in the South: two in Kentucky and one in Tennessee. When finished, these three battery plants will be among the largest factory outlays in the world and are expected to employ around 11,000 workers. This investment from Ford represents the Company’s single largest manufacturing investment ever, since it was founded in 1903. In 2024, the Department of Energy announced a $9.63 billion loan to BlueOval. During the 2023 United Auto Worker negotiations with the Big Three automotive companies (Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis), Ford actively fought against including its BlueOval joint venture under its union contract, despite General Motors and Stellantis agreeing to include their joint venture battery plants. 

In 2024, a group of investors led by IASJ and the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace, became aware of reports of anti-union activities being used by BlueOval. Starting as early as December 2024, at the Kentucky plant, the joint venture began discouraging workers from unionizing by sending anti-union flyers and publishing anti-union media. BlueOval has also reportedly stalled workers’ efforts to unionize at the National Labor Relations Board, hired a union avoidance firm, and allegedly fired workers for trying to organize. Investors were also made aware of BlueOval’s lack of meaningful engagement with Black communities near the site of the Tennessee plant. A local coalition of predominantly Black impacted West Tennesseans and allied organizations, called Blue Oval Good Neighbors, has been trying to negotiate a legally-binding Community Benefits Agreement with Ford since 2022. They believe that without concrete commitments from Ford, the BlueOval plant will reinforce an existing racial economic divide in West Tennessee, adversely impact the environment, and raise the costs of housing and living to the detriment of Black communities. 

The investor group, led by IASJ and the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace, have made multiple attempts at bringing these salient issues to the attention of Ford, but the Company has repeatedly failed to explain how it will address these matters. When the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace filed a shareholder proposal, asking Ford to adopt and disclose a noninterference policy, Ford vigorously pushed for the SEC to allow it to exclude the proposal – which the SEC allowed. Given the fruitless attempts to engage with Ford on these concerns, we have no choice but to raise this issue to Ford’s Board of Directors. IASJ, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace, and thirteen other investor groups are, therefore, calling on the Board to address these matters at the Company’s May 8 AGM.