Ford Vehicle

BY ANDREA HOLECEK holecek@nwitimes.com 219.933.3316 | Saturday, February 16, 2008 | No comments posted. Ford is offering a second round of buyouts to 54,000 UAW workers, including about 3,000 at its two local plants, to make room for flow-back workers. The company announced details of the packages Friday.

Bill Russo, Ford’s director of manufacturing, said the company and the UAW worked together to complete “these generous offerings” in an effort to help the business return to profitability by 2009. Ford would like it the flow-back number to reach at least 5,200. The employees would come from its Automotive Components Holdings LLC subsidiary.

“If we exceed that, we can allow closure of the ACH by the end of the year,” Russo said, adding that the ACH’s 13,000 employees also are being offered the 10 buyout packages, and the 5,200 number entails ACH employees who are eligible for either flow-back or a buyout. Once slots vacated by Ford workers are filled by ACH employees, Ford will be able to fill remaining positions with lower-tiered wage employees, Russo said.

Ford won’t try to estimate how many of its workers will opt to leave the company, Russo said. “We learned last time trying to do a forecast is very difficult,” he said. “Reasons tend to be personal. …