Ford Motor stated it will reshuffle employees at several of its plants to fulfill increasing demand for pickup trucks and large SUVs, a procedure that will need finding new positions for 150 workers displaced by the modifications but not result in job cuts. The changes also will not need addition of new jobs.
Ford said it will move 500 workers from one Kentucky plant making crossover vehicles to another that constructs its best-selling F-Series pickup trucks, including the Ford Expedition and the Lincoln Navigator, both large SUVs.
Along with that, Ford has a new midsize pickup, the Ranger, coming to the market in 2019.
The automaker also said it would shift 500 jobs to a Michigan plant making transmissions for popular pickup trucks from one nearby that will decrease production to one shift making Mustangs and the Lincoln Continental.
Ford stated 150 more workers from the Flat Rock, Michigan, assembly plant would get job offers at other plants. A company spokeswoman stated Ford was “highly confident” that jobs would be found for each of those workers and there would be no job losses as a result of this reorganizing.
The United Auto Workers union, which represents hourly workers at the automaker, stated: “after working with Ford, we are confident that all affected employees will have the opportunity to work at nearby facilities”.
The news comes two days after Ford’s crosstown competitor General Motors stated it would slash 15,000 jobs and mothball five North American factories, consisting four such in the United States, in response to declining consumer demand for traditional passenger cars.
That announcement has attracted the criticism from President Donald Trump, who has threatened to remove subsidies for GM. One of the four U.S. plants expected to shut down is a car factory located in northeast Ohio.
