Ford UK staff braced as global job cuts loom
Workers at Ford plants in the UK are bracing themselves for further bad news this week, as the US motor giant looks set to announce job cuts of up to 10% of its global workforce.
Reports in the US suggested the move was necessary to cut $3 billion (£2.3 billion) of costs, as car sales start to dip.
A spokeswoman at Ford’s Dagenham office declined to comment.
Ford employs around 200,000 people around the world, with almost 14,000 in the UK. This year, leaked documents revealed it anticipated a cut of 1160 jobs at its Bridgend engines plant if no new projects came in.
Ford’s share price has fallen by nearly 40% since chief executive Mark Fields started in the middle of 2014, as profits have dived.
European car sales tumbled for the first time in five years, down 6.6% in April. The first signs of falling sales in the continent were in the UK, where April numbers fell by 20%, partly due to a change in vehicle licensing rules.
