Ford employees lose their jobs, temporarily, on slower bakkie demand in US
Michigan — Ford has temporarily laid off 130 workers at its plant in Ohio, US — jobs it had hoped to preserve by moving commercial pick-up production there from Mexico in 2015. The Dearborn, Michigan-based vehicle maker is taking the plant down to one shift to match output with slower customer demand for its medium-duty pick-up trucks. The laid-off employees were expected to return to work in about September, when Ford begins building redesigned versions of the models, a spokesperson said in an e-mailed statement. The lay-offs mark a turnaround for Ford, which had moved production of its commercial F-650 and F-750 trucks from Mexico to Ohio and used the decision to deflect criticism from US President Donald Trump during the campaign, when he sharply criticized the car maker’s decision to move production south of the border. Ford has since announced it has scrapped plans for the $1.6bn small-car Mexico facility, and will build the Focus compact in an existing plant there. When Ford s...
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