KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Automaker Ford announced Thursday it plans to bring back some personnel on May 18 as part of its first phase to reopen plants closed in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
The automaker has a plant in Claycomo, Missouri.
“We’ve been working intently with state and federal governments, our union partners and a cross-section of our workforce to reopen our North American facilities,” said Jim Farley, Ford’s chief operating officer. “We have reopened our facilities in China, successfully begun our phased restart in Europe and have been producing medical equipment in Michigan for more than six weeks and are using the lessons from all of that to ensure we are taking the right precautions to help keep our workforce here safe.”
As part of Ford’s plan announced Thursday, roughly 12,000 workers whose jobs cannot be done remotely, such as testing and design, will return on May 18.
The company says “robust safety and care measures” have been put into place, including the ability to measure health, personal protective equipment and facility modifications to allow social distancing.
More information about the company’s phased approach is on its website.
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