While a United Auto Workers union is warning that Ford will lay off staff at a Michigan-based transmission plant, the automaker itself is saying the jobs will be moved to another facility and not cut.
Bloomberg reports that a letter posted inside the automaker’s Van Dyke Transmission Plant in Sterling Heights warned workers that layoffs were coming in March 2019. The outlet says it read a copy of the letter from UAW Local 228, and that it said they were working “to avoid any layoffs and continue to protect the job security of our members.”
In response to the report, a Ford spokesperson told Bloomberg that affected full-time hourly employees would be offered jobs at other Ford-operated facilities. Kelli Felker, a spokesperson for the Dearborn-based automaker, specifically confirmed to the outlet that Ford is “planning a reduction of approximately 230 jobs at Van Dyke Transmission Plant in the first quarter of 2019.”
The plant first opened in 1968, sits on 145 acres and currently has 1,550 employees, according to Ford. Van Dyke is responsible for the transmissions for its SUV and van lineup.
Back in October, Ford officials said they were eyeing to trim employees from its global salaried workforce as part of its $11 billion restructuring plan. Mark Truby, Ford’s vice president of communications, told the Detroit News that the automaker will know where cuts will come by the second quarter of 2019, but that hourly employees are not expected to be affected.
This news from one of Detroit’s Big Three comes on the heels of General Motors announcing it would close three assembly plants and two propulsion plants in Michigan, Ohio, Maryland and Ontario by the end of 2019.
The closures of GM’s Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly Plant, Lordstown Assembly Plant in Warren, Ohio and Oshawa Assembly plant and propulsion facilities will result in the loss of about 14,700 jobs including 8,100 white-collar, salaried employees.