Ford offering more buyouts to hourly workers
Ford offering more buyouts to hourly workers
Automotive News | July 21, 2008 - 4:48 pm EST
Ford Motor Co. is extending another round of buyout offers to its hourly workers at more than a dozen U.S. plants as the company aligns production with weakening demand.
The company said today that it will start making plant-by-plant offers on Monday, July 28, to workers at plants in Michigan and Ohio.
In the fall, the buyout program will expand to include staggered offers to employees at other locations, such as Louisville, Ky., Ford spokeswoman Angie Kozleski told Automotive News in a phone interview.
The targeted plants will include truck and SUV plants in which Ford has cut shifts or those it has shut down temporarily.
In June, Ford made buyout offers to some of its hourly workers at Kentucky and Ohio plants.
The company plans to retool some of its U.S. plants to produce small cars, The Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday, July 19. Ford is scheduled to release second-quarter financial results Thursday, July 24.
In April, Ford said it fell short of meeting a buyout target for U.S. hourly jobs in a companywide offer made earlier this year. Ford said 4,200 workers had signed up for buyouts, but it had targeted about 8,000 buyouts, Automotive News previously reported.
Ford is offering buyouts to hourly workers at the following assembly plants:
• The Kentucky Truck plant in Louisville, Ky., which makes F-series Super Duty trucks.
• The Louisville plant that assembles the Ford Explorer and Mercury Mountaineer SUVs.
• The Michigan Truck plant in Wayne, Mich., which makes the Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator SUVs.
• The Wayne, Mich., assembly plant, which makes the Ford Focus small car.
• The Ohio Assembly plant in Avon Lake, Ohio, which makes Ford’s E-series vans.
• The Dearborn, Mich., truck plant, which makes the Ford F-150 and Lincoln Mark LT.
• The AutoAlliance joint venture plant between Ford and Mazda in Flat Rock, Mich., which makes the Mazda6 sedan and the Ford Mustang sports car.
