Ford cuts 1,000 jobs as PowerGen shuts plant

Ford is to cut 1,000 jobs by the end of the year through voluntary redundancy and early retirement under an efficiency programme. Ford, which employs 30,000 workers throughout the country, stressed there would be no compulsory lay-offs.

Production workers and white collar staff will be involved in the cutback. The company said that the move was part of a world-wide programme to improve efficiency.

Ford has factories in several regions, including large plants in Dagenham, Essex, and Halewood on Merseyside as well as sites in Southampton, Bridgend, Swansea and other areas. "It is part of the ongoing drive for world-class efficiency levels," a Ford spokesman said. "British plants must be able to compete on a world-wide basis." The unions had been informed of the cutback, which was explained to workers at meetings yesterday.

In a separate development PowerGen is to shed 41 jobs when it closes a power station next year. The electricity generation company said the 500 megawatt Ince station at Elton, near Chester, Cheshire, would shut at the end of March 1997.