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Ford Authority

Ford Buyout Plan Will Not Imperil Michigan Incentives

As Ford Authority reported back in May, The Blue Oval is set to receive over $100 million from the state of Michigan for its efforts to retool the automaker’s Detroit area plants, moves that will add around 3,030 manufacturing jobs. A few weeks later, Michigan lawmakers in the state’s House Appropriations Committee signed off on that incentive package, one that won’t be affected by the automaker’s plans to cut 3,000 salaried jobs in the United States, Canada, and India. Yesterday, Ford Authority revealed details of a buyout plan for these impacted employees, but that apparently won’t imperil the automaker’s forthcoming incentives from the state of Michigan either, according to the Detroit Free Press.

“We have a strong line of communication with Ford; these were hard decisions Ford leadership made separately from our negotiations around the investment and job creation, and subsequent (incentive) program support, earlier this summer,” said Michigan Department of Economic Development spokesperson Otie McKinley. “(These state) incentives are performance-based, and therefore if the company does not meet the approved requirements for funding, there will be no funds distributed.”

Michigan officials wouldn’t say if they had prior knowledge of these job cuts when negotiating its incentive package for Ford, though McKinley did say that the MEDC is in discussions with the automaker in regards to helping laid off employees find other jobs. A significant number of FoMoCo’s 3,000 job cuts will reportedly take place in Michigan. Regardless, its plan to add manufacturing jobs in lieu of salaried layoffs means that the state will still ultimately net more positions.

“So net-net we’re adding more jobs in Michigan,” Ford spokesperson Mark Truby said. “It’s a rebalancing because those jobs that we talked about adding were hourly employees. The jobs we’re talking about today are white-collar. On an absolute basis, we’re still adding employment in Michigan if you look at both commitments.”

We’ll have more on Ford’s evolving workforce soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for 24/7 Ford news coverage.

Brett's lost track of all the Fords he's owned over the years and how much he's spent modifying them, but his current money pits include an S550 Mustang and 13th gen F-150.

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Comments

  1. Hmmm… I wonder how good the buyout is? At 60 years old, I may be tempted if my employer offered that. But it would have to be good.

    Reply
  2. It wasn’t that long ago that a high profile politician claimed that West Virginia coal miners who lost their jobs due to environmental regulations could be retrained to become software engineers in the “new economy”. If that was true, you would think that those talented salaried folks at Ford who used to work on IC engines could be retrained to develop BEVs. Maybe Ford just doesn’t want these folks anymore…..or maybe the politician wasn’t telling the truth about the reality of retraining??

    Reply
  3. ya know.. 100 million dollars would do more for people if they just *gave* it to them, instead of sloshing it through ford and hoping that people will get splashed by it.

    Reply

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