Ford To Cut 1,000 Salaried Workers In North America Under $11 Billion Global Restructuring Plan

Ford (F) has plans to cut about 1,000 salaried jobs in North America under its $11 billion global restructuring plan.

The news of the layoffs come as Ford is expected to report an operating loss for 2020 – its first in a decade - as it looks to improve its efficiency, sources told Bloomberg. An announcement about the job cuts are expected to come from the automaker as early as this week, the sources said.

While the auto industry stalled after shutting down production in March because of the coronavirus, the sources for the news outlet said the rising costs associated with the pandemic did not impact the job cuts.

The layoffs are expected to come in the form of voluntary buyouts, Bloomberg said.

The move by Ford to cut jobs in North America follows the lay off of 7,000 salaried workers worldwide in 2019 under the restructuring plan. The automaker has about 36,000 salaried employees in the U.S. and about 190,000 workers globally at the end of 2019, CNBC reported.

Ford announced its $11 billion restructuring plan in 2018 as it struggled to maintain global sales. At the time of the announcement, Ford said it would end production on some of its unprofitable vehicle models while closing some global production plants.