By Eileen Buckley
Buffalo, NY – In the next several months, Ford Motor Company will close three plants. Facilities in Cleveland, Ohio and Dearborn, Michigan will shut down by the end of this year, and in the first quarter of 2004, the Edison, New Jersey plant will also close. But in Western New York, production continues at the Ford Stamping Plant in Woodlawn.
There about 1,800 United Auto Workers from Local 897 at the facility. Some temporary contract workers at the stamping plant in Woodlawn were released as part of Ford's restructuring plan. But permanent workers were not affected.
UAW Western New York Regional Director Kevin Donovan says the president of facility and plant manager, along with the union, have worked together to preserve job security.
"They've worked together to improve their quality," Donovan said. "They've worked together to take a lot of cost out of the organization. They've really done some terrific things over there."
Donovan says retirement through attrition at the plant also helped to stabilize the work force, and it allowed the local Ford facility to save money by consolidating and streamlining. Donovan says the closings in Ohio, Michigan and New Jersey should not directly affect work at the Woodlawn plant. But he says laid off workers from the other sites could be transferred here.
"It might affect, under our agreement, where people can transfer from those plants into existing plants that have openings," Donovan said. "So, if we have openings at that plant (Woodlawn), the people laid off from the closed facilities will have the opportunity to transfer."
Donovan says the stamping plant has been doing well and things were put into place to make sure it remains competitive in a global market.
"The competition is getting stiffer and stiffer from the foreign markets," Donovan said. "We just don't sit by and let it bypass us. We have to work very, very hard every day to make sure we cut cost and be as competitive as possible."
Donovan says the union is "incredibly pleased" with the facility's efforts. He says they see a "long life" for the local stamping plant because they're doing "all the right things" to make sure they remain competitive.