Ford Upset UK Workers

Ford have announced that their production of vehicles in the UK will cease next week when it closes its final factory in Southampton. The factory in Southampton that sees several hundreds of Ford Transits pass through every year will come to a closure affecting 531 employees, on top of this on the same day it’s also closing another factory in Dagenham on the same date which will also see another 750 jobs lost, July 26th will be a sad day for Ford employees in the UK.

The car manufacturer have been producing cars in the UK for over a century however this is all about to stop, despite the factory in Southampton making an estimated total of 2.2 million vehicles. So why have Ford decided to move out the UK? They have decided upon moving to turkey stating that the cost of production there is significantly lower to the production cost in the UK on top of this they also stated that the UK produces around 28,000 vans a year where as they will be able to produce and expected 185,000 in Turkey.

Understandably Fords employees are left devastated, with union officials describing the announcement as a “betrayal”. The century of history that Ford have in the UK seems not to be worth a lot when it comes to profit margins, there employees will also be left struggling to find work with the current economic climate as well. Ford seem to be doing little about these over 1,000 employees despite many of them working at specifically the Southampton branch for several years. From a business point of view however, can you blame them? I’m sure Ford will forget about their bad media publicity in the UK with the 157,000 extra vehicles they will be making on a yearly basis.