Ford UK Redundancy

UK cutswill be far higher than 500 as reported by the media. Bridgend plant in the UK has voluntary redundancy targets of about 7-800 workers over the next 2 years.

The plant makes three engines, two of which are scheduled to discontinue within the next 2 years (probably sooner).

The quantities of the remaining engine are so much lower than what were forecast (cough promised) by the company it means that it will be economically unfeasible to continue to run the plant. It would not surprise me if the entire workforce of 1600 people are all laid off within 3 years.

Then you are left with 2 more plants, both of which have operating costs far higher than elsewhere in the world, making engines which will be outlawed in the not-too-distant future. Throw in the uncertainty of Brexit and Ford is GONNERS from the UK.

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Nothing announced for the long-term future of Bridgend, but my speculation would certainly be that it will be closing soonish after as it can't sustainably continue with only one product at reduced capacity (and if Brexit goes badly then that's even more obvious that it will close).

Alright, I didn't expect "soonish" to come so quickly... Seems like the demise of Bridgend Engine Plant is really around the corner:

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/jun/05/ford-planning-to-close-bridgend-plant-more-than-1500-jobs-at-risk

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-48533790

In Ford of Britain, we were told 550 to leave by end of Q2 (media reports 500 to 550). But this is part of the 2019 voluntary separation programme only (mostly for white collars, and heavily targeted at management layers).

On top of that, Ford announced that there will be a need to reduce workforce in Bridgend Engine Plant, by around 800 employees (but I presume mostly hourly) when some engines are discontinued (was it announced for 2020?). I can only assume this won't be voluntary separation in any way!

Nothing announced for the long-term future of Bridgend, but my speculation would certainly be that it will be closing soonish after as it can't sustainably continue with only one product at reduced capacity (and if Brexit goes badly then that's even more obvious that it will close).

The only thing that I'm still unclear is weather Dagenham Engine Plant is at risk... I guess Brexit will be a major factor for the long-term future of the plant, but right now I can't figure out how at risk the plant is. I guess the fact they produce Diesel engines is not playing in their favour, but that could change to something else (some sort of electrified powertrain product?) and most importantly the site is a very big logistics hub for import/export of vehicles due to the jetty on the Thames (unloading Ford vehicles from continental Europe and loading JLR vehicles to be exported) so I can't see them getting rid of the site overall (and thus, is there an incentive to get rid of the plant if they can't sell the estate to a developer?).

500 uk too

Also 5000 in Germany

See UK media coverage

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/may/20/ford-motor-company-cut-7000-jobs-500-uk

The 500 number was for US salaried employees.

Thread regarding Ford layoffs

Ford UK Redundancy

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