Britain's biggest factory goes on four-day week p
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.FORD IS putting its biggest UK factory on a four-day week because of deteriorating exports, the company announced yesterday.
Two shifts at the car-maker's Dagenham plant in Essex will not produce cars for six weeks from 1 October.
The move to stop production on the Thursday night and Friday day shifts was described by Ford as a temporary measure.
The two shifts produce around 1,225 vehicles a week, including Fiesta cars, Fiesta vans and Mazda cars.
The 4,400 employees at Dagenham will still report for work but will undergo training and other non-production duties. A Ford spokesman said the British market was "quite strong" and the Fiesta was selling well in this country. It has been one of the two top-selling cars in the UK in the past year.
"The decision has been taken purely because of deteriorating export markets," the spokesman said.
Dagenham exports about 45 per cent of its output to countries including Italy, France, Spain and Mexico.
Roger Lyons, general secretary of the Manufacturing, Science and Finance union which represents white-collar workers at Ford, said: "This is bad news and brings further evidence that manufacturing is in difficulty. A cut in interest rates and a task force for manufacturing are needed urgently."
The reversal in economic fortunes is particularly disappointing for Ford, which as recently as July was running an extra Saturday shift at Dagenham to cope with an increase in orders.
A forecast yesterday from the Centre for Economics and Business Research said Britain was "within a hair's breadth of recession".
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments