Ford (F) shares fell 2% Thursday morning after 8,700 members of the United Auto Workers (UAW) union walked off the job at Ford's biggest factory, a truck plant in Louisville.

Ford manufactures its Super Duty pickups, Ford Expedition, and the Lincoln Navigator SUVs at the Kentucky site, which employs the most workers. The vehicles produced in the plant generate about $25 billion a year in revenue, making it Ford's largest in terms of revenue. Work stoppages there could put a dozen other Ford operations as well as suppliers at risk, the company warned in a statement.

The move also represents a shift in the UAW's strategy since the strikes started in mid-September, as it did not announce the expansion far in advance. Previously, targets of the UAW's work stoppages were publicly announced by UAW President Shawn Fain well before their occurrence.

Ford called the strike "grossly irresponsible but unsurprising given the union leadership’s stated strategy of keeping the Detroit Three wounded for months through 'reputational damage' and 'industrial chaos.'"

With the latest expansion of the UAW's strike against the 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Big Three automakers, which also includes General Motors (GM) and Chrysler parent Stellantis (STLA), the number of workers protesting has increased to 34,000 or about 23% of UAW members that are covered by the expired contracts.