Local News

ST. PAUL (AP) ― Brian Hanson could have taken a buyout package worth $100,000 to leave the Ford Motor Co. assembly plant here, but he had a feeling the company's plans to close the plant in 2008 might change.

The closure did get pushed back to 2009. And on Thursday, the company delayed it even more to 2011. Hanson and the other 225 or so employees that decided not to take buyouts were celebrating.

"I knew not to take the money," said Hanson, who has worked at the plant 13 years and supports his wife and three children. "With everything they offered us, I just knew they weren't telling us everything."

Ford decided to continue producing the Ranger at its St. Paul plant to meet consumer demand for the compact pickup truck. Sales in the U.S. light truck market declined 18 percent in the first half of this year, while Ranger sales were down just 4 percent. For the hourly workers currently putting in 10-hour days at the plant, the extension makes sense when considering $4-per-gallon gas and the plant's high marks for quality and production.

"Why close this plant?" asked Benjamin Gross, who has worked there for 11 years and also decided not to take a buyout. "The market is showing the need now to stay open. ... I don't think the company saw it coming."

But two years ago, some 1,600 union members in St. Paul -- more than nine in 10 plant employees -- decided buyouts were the way to go. Some uprooted their families to transfer to other plants. Others sought work elsewhere or received job training for new careers. And many returned to the Ford plant, often for a lower hourly wage than they had earned previously.

Tom McClure, who has worked at the plant for 20 years, took a $10-per-hour pay cut when he took a buyout and came back to work, figuring he would come out ahead by the time the plant closed. Now, he's not so sure it was the right decision.

"I wish I would have had more information," said McClure, who would have been eligible for a good early retirement package had he stayed. But he said it's not the time for workers to second-guess themselves.

"You make the best decision you can at the time," McClure said. "Jobs are hard to come by now."

Roger Terveen, president of the UAW Local 879 in St. Paul, said some workers who took buyouts two years ago are questioning Ford officials.

"I've talked to a lot of members who feel that they weren't told the whole truth," he said.

But Terveen said he understands the business side of it, and he hopes the new closing date will give workers extra time to line up new jobs along with job training or more education.

For St. Paul, where the plant has been a part of the community for more than 80 years, the automaker's decision allowed more time to make an additional pitch to company officials to keep the plant open even longer.

"We will continue to push Ford to make strategic investments to keep the plant open and producing vehicles that consumers want to buy and employees are proud to build," St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman said in a statement.

And already, state lawmakers were discussing legislation that could persuade Ford officials to change their plans yet again.

"We must act decisively on a package of incentives that enables Ford to produce the kind of fuel efficient vehicles in St. Paul that will keep the plant thriving now and in the future," said state Rep. Frank Hornstein, DFL-Minneapolis.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty said state officials will keep discussing long-term options with Ford.

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The Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant was built in 1924.

(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)