8:02am Friday 3rd October 2008
By Simon Carr
OUTPUT at Southampton’s Ford Transit factory has been cut again bringing the number of vehicles assembled at the plant to just 250 a day.
The new cut comes only months after the levels were slashed from 375 to 308 and follows the Swaythling plant introducing a four-day week, as revealed in Tuesday’s Daily Echo.
An insider at the plant told the Echo that the output was previously being reviewed monthly but bosses were now looking at it weekly.
He said: “There is a lot of uncertainty in the plant and we are being told that these cuts are due to shrinking orders across Europe.
“Workers are worried that if volumes get too low Turkey will swallow the whole operation and we will lose the plant that way.
Another said: “I think the company will be cutting the number of hours in a shift next.
“The chassis cabs option seems to be only one on the table and there’s no guarantee that the US bosses will even accept that.
“I think most people are resigned to whatever happens now as the workers don’t tend to get told anything useful.”
Market conditions A Ford UK spokesman said due to confidentiality he was unable to confirm all the details but added: “The output is always monitored closely so the plant can respond to changing market conditions.
“However, under the current circumstances the output would be monitored more often than usual.
“I cannot comment on the figures mentioned but the reduction levels are completely plausible.”
Workers say there are fears inside the plant that in the new year daily output will be cut again and they will be put on a three-day week, a single shift system or see a cut in the number of working hours a day.
Today also sees 124 workers on short-term contracts leaving the plant for the last time.
Ford plans to slash production from 75,000 to 35,000, cut jobs and export the manufacture of the iconic Transit van to Turkey.
If these proposals are rubber-stamped by Ford US bosses, Southampton will only produce chassis cabs.
Workers and union leaders claim a reduction on that scale would lead to the eventual closure of the plant.
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