Ford Motor Co. will be temporarily laying off roughly 2,000 hourly employees at its Michigan Assembly and Stamping Plants in May so it can begin retooling the site’s facilities for production of the 2019 Ford Ranger and 2020 Ford Bronco. The location will be idled for roughly five months and Ford wants to make it very clear that these are temporary layoffs.
The automaker said in a notice in compliance with the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act that all affected employees will either return to the plant in October or transfer to another factory. Ford also said it would be ending production of the Focus sedan and C-Max on May 7th.
According to The Detroit News, which obtained a copy of the WARN filing, the official date for employees to return to work will be October 22nd. Employees with a year seniority will receive roughly 75 percent of their pay during the layoff period.
“This is a temporary measure as we undertake extensive retooling to transform the plant to build the Ford Ranger, followed by the Ford Bronco,” company spokeswoman Kelli Felker explained. “The affected employees all will return to work — either at Michigan Assembly or at another Ford facility.”
Ford announced that it would invest an additional $150 million at Michigan Assembly above investments negotiated as part of the 2015 United Auto Workers contract last year. Negotiated as a part of that contract was a $700 million investment to retool the plant for truck and SUV production.
[Image: Ford Motor Co.]
I feel like I’m missing something…
New Bronco?
I didn’t realize they formally announced that was a go.
The production model has not been revealed, but the fact that there will be one has been confirmed.
https://m.ford.com/suvs/bronco/
Had to look it up myself.
I’d call that a teaser page but it’s not even enough to arouse…
my curiosity.
I wonder when the Chinese made 2019 Focus will be revealed? And if its popularity will sink when people learn where it is made or if that is becoming irrelevant quickly.
Probably no faster than the popularity of any sedan is sinking
“Chinese Focus” – Quality is Job One
Sub-600,
As much sh!t we like to throw at the Chinese they are learning quickly.
I think people better stand up and realise the Chinese will be there for decades to come and how to better deal with them.
The current methods are purely childish and tackling the wrong issue with China. It the political system that needs addressing, not what they manufacture.
Whether we in the West like it or not, 1.3 billion people can’t be wrong. Also, they’ve been here for millenia. While I may be enamored of my western European heritage, the Chinese were world explorers and scientists at the same time my ancestry were still throwing spears at one another while living in the forest.
Geozinger:
Your comment is one of the smarter observations yet….. China will be a world leader unless WE GET SMART and stop this Dem/Rep War in politics
Well, given the number of people reading this on Chinese made devices I doubt if too many care where a product is made.
Most people may not care if their cheap electronic devices malfunction or break. But some people will care when they lose their loved ones when the “chabuduo” quality of their Chinese-built car eventually manifests itself and the car folds like cardboard upon impact in an accident. (Of course, to some globalists even that won’t probably be a big deal.)
I think that the average age of American cars is about 12 years. Trading one of those on a new Haval or Chery or Volkswagen is probably a step up in safety.
I wonder when the Chinese made 2019 Focus will be revealed? And if its popularity will sink when people learn where it is made or if that is becoming irrelevant quickly.
Five months off, but still receive 75% of my pay? Where do I sign up?
“75% of my pay” I’m not sure of the exact language in the UAW- Ford collective agreement . I do know they arrive at that figure using a combination of Unemployment benefits, and negotiated Supplementary Unemployment Benefits (S.U.B)..
The SUB benefit is subject to funding. As the fund diminishes so do the benefits. Only the very highest employees receive full SUB.
The 75% percent is actually 75% of your normal “take home” pay. When that figure is determined then the tax man take his share.
Not knowing the U.S. tax system , though I would be willing to bet the average Ford worker will probably need to eat somewhere around 35% of his/her regular pay.
So back to work in October 2018, when will production actually start?
With the news that the next Explorer will shift to FoMoCo’s new modular RWD platform, hopefully that means the Bronco is more Ford Troller than Ford Everest.