(WXYZ) — Ford Motor Company will close its Romeo Engine Plant as part of the proposed tentative agreement reached with the UAW. The plant will close if the UAW-Ford Council and rank-and-file members approve the contract.
The news comes one day after the union and automaker reached a proposed TA, which still has to be voted on by the national council to become an official tentative agreement and then ratified by 55,000 Ford-UAW workers.
According to sources, the 600 employees who work at the engine plant on 32 Mile near Van Dyke will be offered jobs at the Ford Van Dyke Transmission Plant, which is located at 18 Mile and Van Dyke in Sterling Heights, about 14 miles away. They can also take buyout packages and retire.
Sources tell us no other plants will close under the proposed contract.
The union began negotiations on Monday with Ford for a new contract, but there was no work stoppage as there was with GM for 40 days.
Plant closings were a major issue between General Motors and the UAW after GM announced it would close 4 plants this year including Warren Transmission, Lordstown, Ohio Assembly and Detroit Hamtramck Assembly. Detroit Hamtramck will remain open building all-electric trucks and vans. Hundreds of workers in Lordstown had to move to 7 other states to keep working for GM and workers in Warren, Michigan have transferred to Flint and other plants in distant cities.
The Ford UAW Council coming in from 18 states will meet and vote whether to send the Tentative Agreement to the rank and file tomorrow in Detroit. And then 55,000 Ford workers will have about a week to vote yes or no through their local unions in those 18 states.
