Truck Stop Unlimited - All About Trucks & Trailers

Ford truck plant to lose shift

Ford Motor Co. will take the Kentucky Truck Plant from three shifts to two by late next month, resulting in layoffs of at least 300 United Auto Workers members, company spokeswoman Angie Kozleski said yesterday.

“We told employees this morning of the change in our operating pattern,” she said.

As Ford adjusts to plunging sales of F-Series trucks, the automaker will run two shifts instead of three in the Chamberlain Lane plant’s body, stamping and paint shops beginning Aug. 18 or Aug. 25, Kozleski said. The plant’s trim shop, which assembles the vehicle interiors, already operates two shifts.

It was unclear who among the plant’s 3,625 workers faces furlough. When the plant resumes production Aug. 4 after its annual summer retooling, officials from the company and UAW Local 62 will sort through which less-senior employees will be laid off. Still undetermined is the number of skilled-trades union workers who will be let go.

A UAW official acknowledged how hard it is to absorb production cuts, but noted Ford is near completion of a state-of-the-art body shop at the truck plant. Maintenance hands will be fully employed during the four-week-long summer shutdown to complete that installation, Local 862 benefits representative John Klefot said.

“Even though it is doom and gloom, Ford is moving ahead,” Klefot said yesterday.

The layoffs will be in addition to the 101 truck plant workers Ford notified yesterday who will transfer to openings at the Louisville Assembly Plant. The Fern Valley Road factory awaits investment by Ford to make it capable of producing fuel-efficient vehicles instead of Explorers.

Kozleski urged UAW members to consider buyout offers available from Ford until Sept. 26. Packages of financial, medical and-or tuition compensation range between $40,000 and $150,000, depending on years of service.

“The buyout window is open,” she said. “We continue to encourage our employees to look at that.”

Ford’s steep fall has come quickly.

So far this year, the truck plant has made 133,497 Super Duty trucks, a 35 percent drop from the first six months of 2004 and 2005.

The plant ran full throttle with three shifts producing 201,442 trucks in the first half of 2004 and 206,596 in the first six months of 2005.

With lower gas prices, the booming housing market, generous lending and a U.S. economy clipping along at a 4 percent annual growth rate, automakers sold more than 2.5 million pickup trucks annually in 2004 and 2005, Ford senior sales analyst George Pipas said yesterday.

Even last year, pickup sales industry-wide totaled 2.2 million.

This year, automakers have sold a little more than one-third of that, or 835,000 pickups, Pipas said. Of that, Ford has moved just 38,789 F-Series trucks this year, down from 65,156 last year. Super Duty trucks account for about 40 percent of all Ford F-Series sales.

While those dim sales spell cutbacks, more workers at the truck plant are contemplating going back to school. Ford reimburses tuition costs up to $5,000 annually for UAW workers, said Kim Jackson, who works in the plant’s training department. In recent months, Jackson said she has seen the number of employees inquiring about tuition benefits rise 25 percent.

“People are beginning to consider their options more seriously,” she said.