By the time Johnnie Minter finished her shift at Ford's Cleveland Casting Plant and crossed the street to the UAW 1250 union hall, she had her game plan set. She walked into a crowded job fair and quickly scanned the signs job recruiters had hung on tables.
Johnnie Minter: I saw Cleveland Clinic was on the list so they were the first place I ran to, to get more information as to what my potential might be.
Minter has worked in patient care before and is now training to become a medical technician. The 57-year-old is one of what Ford Motor Company hopes will be many who are taking the automaker's latest buyout offer. Ford has reduced its workforce by 40 percent since 2005 and yet is still struggling, losing $8.6 billion in the first half of this year. Now the company is hoping buyout packages and job fairs, like this, entice more hourly workers to leave from select plants in Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky and Indiana.
Nate Meadows: Obviously, we have more people than we do jobs and that's the big picture reason to provide these opportunities.
Ford Strategy Analyst Nate Meadows won't say exactly how many hourly workers the company would like to see leave. Ford didn't meet a target of 8,000 workers in the second round of buyouts earlier this year. The company has recently cut shifts, idled plants and slashed overtime because demand in the US market is just getting worse. The autoworkers union and the company agreed on buyouts instead of layoffs, for now.
Nate Meadows:They are salesmen and they promote our products. If we can help them make a smooth transition into a different job or different career and then still have a positive outlook on Ford Motor Company, the more the merrier that's what we're hoping to gain.
Chrissi Gilbert: We are looking for mechanics, electricians, welders...We've also got engineering, human resource professional positions available. Are you interested in coming to the Wyoming area?
Worker: Yes, yes, yes.
Gilbert: Ok, great!
Recruiter Chrissi Gilbert says her company, Peabody Energy, has had a great experience hiring former Ford workers because they are already highly skilled. Closer to home, Mark Kovach at Arcelor Mittal says the city's steel plant has been hiring former autoworkers for the past two and a half years.
Mark Kovach: With China coming on and India coming on there's a lot of demand for steel and with that you need workers and our workforce is old so we have to replenish that older, retiring workforce.
Over a thousand workers have taken buyouts from Brook Park's three Ford plants alone. So says Jim Gillispie, the liaison for Ford workers in Northern Ohio who are considering a buyout. The different packages are tiered according to seniority and include cash payments between $50,000 and $140,000 with some health benefits. There are also packages to help pay for school tuition. Gillispie covers plants from Cleveland to Sandusky and says, though it's still early, he's hearing from more workers this time around.
Jim Gillispie: People are aware of the circumstances in the industry. Some people that maybe weren't quite prepared to take that step then are really, really ready to do it now.
That group may include 62-year-old Lonnie Smith. He's had 22 years at the casting plant which is slated to close next year. He arrives and looks over company brochures.
Lonnie Smith: They're going to close the plant anyway. This is the third buyout. And I'm thinking I might take this. They say this is the last one, but they always say it's the last one. There might be another one. You never know.
Northern Ohio Ford workers have until October 31st to decide whether or not to take one of ten buyout packages. Mhari Saito, 90.3.