For their assembly plants in Chicago and Louisville, Kentucky, Ford Motor Co. has decided that it will offer more buyouts to its hourly workers. These plants are two of the many selected plants where Ford will be releasing their buyout offers. According to Mark Fields (Ford President of the Americas), "We’re going to look at some of the capacity reductions and some of the plant closures to do targeted buyouts."

In March 2008, Ford had announced that only one shift will be operated in the Louisville and Chicago plants. Ford Explorer, Mercury Mountaineer, Ford Taurus and Mercury Sable and the Taurus X Crossover are some of the popular brands that roll off the assembly lines of these two plants. There are reports of possible buyouts in other plants as well. However, Ford has neither confirmed nor denied this report. Ford had initiated a massive company-wide buyout in March 2008. According to company figures, 4,200 workers have already accepted the buyouts. Sources inside the company report that Ford has an estimated target of 8,000 workers.

Mr. Fields believe that, if the employees anticipate that there might be an extended layoff or the possibility of a transfer, then they would definitely opt for the buyout and Ford wouldn’t have to make any changes to the offers as well. Mark Fields said, “By linking it to specific actions around shift reductions or plant closures, that can change the mind-set to one degree or another by the employee.”

Keeping profits and cost-cutting in mind, Ford has also not denied the possibility of white-collar job cuts. Ford is looking to axe North American operating costs by as much as $5 billion by the end of 2008. It also is determined to post profits in North America and for the entire 2009.

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