Ford Motor Co. says it will close an engine-casting plant in the Cleveland suburb of Brook Park. The shutdown, scheduled for 2009, is part of a companywide restructuring plan that will close 16 facilities by 2012.
Like other workers at the Ohio plant, Mike Theus said he knew about the company's restructuring program. Yet the announcement that his plant would close still came as a shock.
"Until they actually say something, you don't really feel the impact of it," Theus said.
For Theus, the impact will be on his ability to pay the mortgage and support the two children he has in college.
More than 1,700 Ford employees in the Cleveland area will feel the economic blow — 1,200 at the casting plant and another 500 at a nearby engine plant that will be shuttered for at least a year.
Ford is cutting thousands of jobs because of continued financial losses — nearly $13 billion in 2006 and another $282 million so far this year.
Brook Park Mayor Mark Elliott, who is also the head of the local United Auto Workers chapter, spoke with Ford employees at a union hall several hours after Monday's announcement.
Elliott says the closings mean the city will lose more than a quarter of its tax revenues. The city had been preparing for that eventuality.
"We've seen the decline in the auto industry, we've seen the reduced work numbers," he said. "We've had to do our homework and we've planned well. Still, it's a setback — no question about it."
Elliott says the city won't face a significant economic hit this year, but 2008 will be an uphill battle.
David C. Barnett reports for member station WCPN in Cleveland.
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