High gas prices have taken their toll on the automobile industry. As the pain at the pump intensifies, fewer individuals feel the need or have the ability to expend the amount of money required to purchase a new car. Because of this, automobile manufactures are experiencing decreasing profit margins. When a business or company begins to lose money, one of the first things they do is decrease the number of individuals who work there. This is why Ford Motors Inc. will be doing away with 600 Chicago jobs at its local assembly plant.

The plant, which makes the Ford Taurus, the Ford Taurus X crossover and the Mercury Sable, will be dropping one of its two shifts by November 3rd. This will result in the loss of jobs for approximately 600 temporary part-time workers.

According to Ford Spokesperson, Anne Marie Gattari, the company is still trying to determine how this will impact the remaining employees at the plant. At this time around 2,200 people are employed at Ford’s Chicago plant.

The company has been considering doing away with at least one of the plant’s shifts for over the past year. As of March, Ford announced that, in an effort to cut costs, it would eliminate one shift at the Chicago plant and several others at various facilities.

Then in June, Ford announced that it had changed its mind about doing away with the shift because the United Auto Workers Local 551 had approved a contract that included altering the production schedule. The UAW agreed to four 10 hours shifts instead of the having employees work 5 days a week for 8 hours at a time.

But recently the company announced that the sales of Ford, Lincoln and Mercury cars had fallen around 9 percent since August of 2007. Overall, the company’s U.S. sales had dropped 26.5 percent during the same time period. This drastic loss of profit has made the cost cutting measures necessary. At this time, officials from the United Auto Workers Local 551 have not commented on the impending layoffs. Employees who will be effected have already been notified.

Labels: Chicago Jobs