Ford Axes Hauling Contract with Kansas City-based Jack Cooper

Posted January 9, 2025

Kansas City-based automobile hauler Jack Cooper is losing its contract with Ford, with layoffs looming as a result.

Ford informed Jack Cooper of its intentions to end the contract between the two companies on Jan 2, with a 30-day notice. Ford will end its services with Jack Cooper following nearly 40 years of working together.

Jack Cooper has approximately 2,500 employees. About 1,700 of them are members of the Teamsters. Jack Cooper hauled vehicles for Ford’s Kansas City Assembly Plant in addition to plants located at Avon Lake, Ohio; the Claycomo road facility in Liberty; Cottage Grove, Minnesota; Dearborn, Michigan; Louisville, Kentucky; and Wayne, Michigan.

On Tuesday, Teamsters general president Sean O’Brien released a statement on Ford’s decision to end its decades-long car haul contract with Jack Cooper.

“By taking steps to end its relationship with Jack Cooper, the Ford Motor Company has officially threatened the livelihoods of more than 1,400 Teamsters-represented carhaul workers and their families,” O’Brien said. “Ford, a once iconic American brand, wants to boost its own bottom line by walking away from a family-owned company and into the arms of second-rate third parties that will pay workers less money and far fewer benefits to haul Ford vehicles.”

O’Brien and Teamsters urged Ford to reverse its decision in the statement.

Founded in 1928, Jack Cooper is owned by the Riggs family and is Teamster’s largest woman-owned vehicle logistics affiliate in North America.