Ford will announce Hazelwood plant layoffs on Monday (StL, MO)

[UpInArms]

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/business/stories.nsf/Business/BDDC4D6823394B0386256E240016E836?OpenDocument&Headline=Ford+will+announce+Hazelwood+plant+layoffs+on+Monday+++

Ford Motor Co. on Monday will notify workers at its Hazelwood assembly plant about job layoffs that it previously had said were part of a plan to keep the facility open through 2007.

Details about the size, speed and duration of the layoffs were unavailable Thursday night. However, the layoffs could begin as early as April 26.

In September, Ford said it needed to cut one of the two shifts at the Hazelwood plant toward the middle of 2004 as a result of waning demand for the Explorer sport utility vehicle assembled there. The facility - which employs about 2,750 - also builds the Mercury Mountaineer and Lincoln Aviator SUVs.

In an interview from Dearborn, Mich., Ford spokesman Ed Lewis said he had no information about pending layoffs.

However, Lewis said, "We did say last year that we would reduce employment to a single shift in 2004."

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