Ford may idle Cleveland plants
"We have seen commitments over the last 37 years not lived up to. The members are aware of that," said Whitey Bragg, building chairman of the 55-year-old casting plant for United Auto Workers Local 1250.
Joe Hinrichs, Ford's vice president for North American manufacturing, said the company is getting out of the foundry business altogether, sending that work to a series of suppliers in Canada, Europe and South America.
The company also will shut down one of two engine-manufacturing plants on the Brook Park campus for a year starting in about two weeks. Sales of vehicles using the 3-liter V-6 engines are too low to keep the plant running, Hinrichs said.
With about 1,200 workers, the casting plant is the oldest and largest of the Brook Park factories. Ford is again offering workers as much as $140,000 to leave the company voluntarily, and Hinrichs said it should be able to manage retirements and attrition over the next two years to avoid firing anyone.
Still, union leaders and members were upset by the decision. Cleveland.com
05/07/07 Ford Motor Co. is considering a year-long shutdown of one of the three plants in its Brook Park campus (Cleveland), union leaders said in a letter to members recently. Cleveland Engine Plant No. 1, a facility that makes 3-liter V-6 engines, would go down this month and stay idle until the second quarter of 2008.
Ford spokeswoman Anne Marie Gattari declined the comment on plans, and union leaders contacted Friday said no decisions have been made yet.
"Ford Motor Co. says idling Plant No. 1 will save the company $38 million, and that it fully intends to re-launch Plant No. 1 by the end of the second quarter of 2008," officers of the United Auto Workers Local 1250 said in a letter to members last week.
Ford has been phasing out use of the 3-liter V-6 over the past few years in favor of a more powerful 3.5-liter V-6 built in Lima, Ohio. Ford has tooled the local engine plant to also build the 3.5-liter motor, but it has not used that capability.