FORD Motor Company is investigating an accident on Monday at one of its transmission plants that killed an employee.
First responders were called around 9.45am 16th March to Ford Sharonville Transmission plant in Sharonville, Ohio, which is about 17 miles north of Cincinnati.
A press machine was undergoing routine maintenance when it was accidentally turned on, pinning employee Gregory Knopf.
Knopf, 64, from Goshen, Ohio, was freed from the machine and medics started life-saving measures, but he later died at Bethesda North Hospital, according to police.
‘There were multiple witnesses to this incident and it is considered an industrial accident at this time,’ Sharonville police said.
The Hamilton County Coroner’s Office, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and Ford’s administrative staff are investigating.
Ford spokeswoman Jessica Enoch confirmed the accident on March 17th and said the automaker is in contact with the employee’s family and working to support them.
At the 2.4-million-square-foot plant in Sharonville, Ohio, Ford builds about 3,500 transmissions a day and employs more than 2,000 people.
UAW Vice President Laura Dickerson, who directs the Ford department, posted on social media that the union is ‘devastated to learn that a member was killed on the job at Ford’s Sharonville Transmission Plant’.
She said: ‘No one should ever go to work and never come home.
‘It is our sacred duty as a union to protect the life, health and safety of our members on the job.
‘Members deserve a workplace free of threat to life and body.
‘Our prayers are with the family, co-workers and loved ones of our fallen brother.’
Meanwhile, members of Teamsters Local 377 at INEOS, one of the world’s largest chemical producers, have unanimously authorised a strike ahead of their contract expiration on March 31st.
Just three years ago, these same workers had to strike to get their first collective bargaining agreement.
The 43 Teamsters are covered by a joint collective bargaining agreement with 66 chemical workers, represented by International Chemical Workers Union Council (ICWUC) Local 1033C, who will also strike if a fair contract is not reached by the end of the month.
Steven Anzevino, President of Local 377, said: ‘INEOS has been nothing but disrespectful to workers throughout the life of the current contract and have continued that behaviour at the bargaining table.
‘Our members work hard and put in long hours, including hundreds of hours in overtime annually, to make this company profitable, while being extremely understaffed.’
The unions have met with INEOS management more than a dozen times to negotiate a new agreement, and the company has made nothing but insulting proposals like cutting sick time and personal days.
Meanwhile, current staffing levels are dangerously low and a single call-off can shut down the entire plant.
Julie Bihlajama, Secretary-Treasurer of ICWUC Local 1033C, said: ‘The company continues to demand cuts to sick leave while pushing for additional overtime, despite workers already clocking between 500 and 1,300 overtime hours annually.
‘Their focus on profit over the wellbeing of our families is unacceptable. We are fighting to be treated as people, not machines.’
Nathan Summers, a steward at INEOS, added: ‘There’s a clear disconnect between management and employees, and it has become very apparent during negotiations.
‘Our employer is engaging in surface bargaining and making proposals like reducing sick time while proposing increased forced overtime which the company knows we will not accept.’
Teamsters Local 377 represents workers in a wide variety of industries throughout Northeastern Ohio.
In a separate dispute, registered nurses (RNs) at Michigan’s largest health care system are ready to strike for a first contract.
Registered nurses at Corewell Health East, represented by Teamsters Local 2024, have voted by nearly 90 per cent to authorise a strike.
The 10,000 nurses across nine hospitals and campuses throughout south eastern Michigan have been fighting for their first union contract since June 2025.
Nurses are demanding safe nurse-to-patient ratios, fair wages, affordable health insurance, and improved workplace safety.
Rachel Szadyr, a cardiac ICU nurse and member of the bargaining committee, said: ‘This overwhelming strike vote shows that nurses are done being bullied into silence while executives put profits over patients and gamble with our safety and our licenses.
‘It’s no secret that nurses everywhere are struggling.
‘We keep losing incredible nurses because of a rigged system that lets so-called nonprofit hospitals pile more responsibility onto nurses, while stripping away the resources we need to provide safe care.
‘This isn’t sustainable and it’s exactly why we are fighting for the best possible contract.’
In November 2024, Corewell nurses beat back an aggressive $1.7 million union-busting campaign by voting three-to-one to join the Teamsters.
In the 16 months since organising, Corewell management has continued to attack nurses and violate labour law by withholding several economic opportunities that were given to non-union employees, eliminating pull pay, and terminating their student loan repayment programme.
Tom Erickson, lead negotiator and Teamsters Central Region International Vice President, said: ‘The clock is ticking for Corewell Health East to offer Teamsters nurses the contract they deserve – or 10,000 nurses will take this fight to the streets.
‘This greedy corporate hospital system spent millions to try to stop these nurses from becoming Teamsters and now they are haemorrhaging even more money on anti-union attorneys who want to keep workers from getting the best possible contract.
‘This strike vote should make it crystal clear to Corewell – we aren’t backing down and if they continue to keep this charade up, nurses are united and ready to take power into their own hands.’
Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.3 million hardworking people in the US, Canada, and Puerto Rico.
• ‘Tell your senators: Don’t make voting harder for working people,’ urges the AFL-CIO union federation.
The AFL-CIO said on Tuesday: ‘President Trump is pushing forward legislation that would make it harder for millions of Americans to vote.
‘He has even said that he won’t sign any other bills into law until this voter suppression bill, the SAVE America Act, passes.
‘How would you be impacted if your senators made it harder for you to register to vote, update your voter registration or cast a ballot?
‘This is voter suppression, plain and simple. Would it affect you? Call your senators and let them know. Dial 844-733-3172 or fill out the form on this page to be connected.’
‘With you it’s better in a union’ is the theme of the 30th AFL-CIO Constitutional Convention on June 7-10th, 2026 in Minneapolis.
Registration will open April 7th, 2026.
The AFL-CIO says: ‘America’s working people and our unions are being tested like never before as the Trump administration, corporate billionaires and powerful interests lay waste to decades of progress.
‘But the momentum is shifting and we are on the verge of massive
‘Working people are challenging the Trump administration’s anti-worker and anti-immigrant agenda – and making a difference.
‘Our federation of unions has never been more united, and we are the trusted and coherent voice this country needs to lead the fight against injustice and oppression.
‘Our labour built America, and our unions have kept it strong and will continue pushing it forward. We know the power unions have to change lives.
‘Let us then gather in unity and clarity of purpose to empower working people, redefine our economy and build an America that works for all of us. With you, we can.
‘Working people are proud to celebrate the 30th AFL-CIO Convention in the Twin Cities, home to a rich and vibrant labour history dating back to Minnesota’s founding as a state.’