Ford cuts hit home: Idling extended for S. Side workers

Workers at Ford Motor Co.'s Chicago Assembly Plant face moredowntime this fall.

On Friday, Ford announced it would slash production by 21 percent,temporarily ceasing work at 10 U.S. plants, including Chicago's, inthe fourth quarter.

The Chicago plant on Torrence Avenue is temporarily closed anextra four weeks already, besides the usual two-week summer layoffperiod, because of slower than expected sales this year.

The nation's second-largest automaker said the cuts -- the largestsince the early 1980s -- are an effort to match inventories to demandand avoid costly incentives.

Dearborn, Mich.-based Ford, which lost $254 million in the secondquarter, vowed last month to speed up its North Americanrestructuring. It already announced a turnaround plan in January thatcalled for shedding 25,000 to 30,000 jobs and closing 14 plants by2012.

Ford Chairman and CEO Bill Ford is expected to announce a far moreaggressive plan next month. According to an unnamed source, another6,000 salaried jobs in North America will be eliminated in that plan.

Production is being cut by 168,000 units in the fourth quarter.For the full year, Ford plans to produce about 9 percent fewervehicles than last year.

In addition to the Chicago plant, two plants in Louisville, Ky.,and facilities in St. Paul, Minn.; Kansas City, Mo.; Norfolk, Va.;St. Thomas, Ontario, and Wixom, Wayne and Dearborn, Mich., will facecutbacks, Ford said.

Ford would not give details about how long production will bedelayed or how many workers would be affected. But it said more thanhalf of the reduction will be in F-Series pickups, reflecting lowerdemand for trucks. The pickups are not made in Chicago.

Hourly United Auto Workers members put on temporary layoff receive95 percent of their wages through state unemployment benefits and asupplement by Ford.

The Torrence Avenue facility, a fixture on the South Side since1924, has been redesigned at great expense to build a variety ofvehicles. It produces the Ford Five Hundred and Mercury Montegosedans and the Ford Freestyle crossover vehicle. All three arescheduled to undergo design changes for the 2008 model year.

Ford has announced a new Lincoln flagship model based on the FiveHundred, assembled only at the Chicago facility. Some analysts saythat car probably will be built at Torrence Avenue.

The company is facing other options to stem its losses. It's beenspeculated that Ford will sell one or more members of its PremierAutomotive Group, which consists of Jaguar, Volvo, Land Rover and farsmaller Aston Martin.

Jaguar often is mentioned as a sales candidate because itreportedly has been a money-loser since Ford bought it in 1989. Butthat's partly because Ford has poured money into the iconic British-based firm.

Ford shares fell 17 cents to $8.