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For thousands of US auto workers, the downturn is already here

LORDSTOWN, Ohio - Wall Street is fretting that the auto industry is heading for a downturn, but for thousands of workers at General Motors factories in the United States, the hard times are already here. Matt Streb, 36, was one of 1,200 workers laid off on Jan. 20 - inauguration day for President Donald Trump - when GM canceled the third shift at its Lordstown small-car factory here. Sales of the Chevrolet Cruze sedan, the only vehicle the plant makes, have nosedived as consumers switch to SUVs and pickup trucks. Streb is looking for another job, but employers are wary because they assume he will quit whenever GM calls him back. "I get it," said Streb, who has a degree in communications, "but it's frustrating." Layoffs at Lordstown and other auto plants point to a broader challenge for the economy in Midwestern manufacturing states and for the Trump administration. "This is about economics, not what Trump says. Even if Trump went out and bought 10,000 Cruzes a month, he wouldn't get the third shift back here." The auto industry's boom from 2010 through last year was a major driver for manufacturing job creation. The fading of that boom threatens prospects for US industrial output and job creation that were central to Trump's victory in Ohio and other manufacturing states. "This is about economics, not what Trump says," said Robert Morales, president of United Auto Workers (UAW) union Local 1714, which represents workers at GM's stamping plant at Lordstown. "Even if Trump went out and bought 10,000 Cruzes a month, he wouldn't get the third shift back here." Last week the Federal Reserve said factory output fell 0.4 percent in May, the second decline in three months, due partly to a 2 percent drop in motor vehicles and parts production. Mark Muro, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, has compiled data from government sources that show the auto industry punching higher than its weight in job creation in recent years - accounting for between 60 percent and 80 percent of all US manufacturing jobs added in 2015 and 2016. In the first quarter of this year, the auto industry accounted for less than 2 percent of the 45,000 manufacturing jobs created. "There's no argument with the idea that auto has been pulling the manufacturing sled up the mountain for the last three or four years," Muro said.

Ford launches mobile coronavirus test program with partners

For its latest coronavirus act, Ford has joined forces with a Detroit university, its affiliated physicians group and an Arab-American human services nonprofit to launch a mobile Covid-19 testing program for symptomatic first responders, health care workers and corrections officers in Michigan. Since Monday, Ford has been supplying Lincoln Navigators and drivers from the Lincoln Personal Driver pilot service, both offered through its Ford X in-house incubator. They’re equipped with tents, sanitation, power and Wi-Fi. Partners Wayne State University, the Wayne State University Physician Group and Dearborn-based ACCESS are providing staff and medical kits. The program is billed as an extension of drive-through testing sites operating in Detroit and Dearborn, but capable instead of bringing testing to locations and people who lack access to it. The mobile Navigator test vehicles will be capable of testing up to 100 people per day at no cost, with results returned within 24 to 36 hours. Testing will start at sites in southeast Michigan and then branch out to other parts of the state, including Battle Creek, Lansing and Grand Rapids. Michigan has been a major epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S., with 27,001 confirmed cases and 1,768 deaths as of the most current data from Tuesday. The state has been under a stay-at-home order since March 23. With its factories remaining temporarily idled for vehicle production, Ford has kept busy branching out into the fight against the novel coronavirus on multiple fronts. It kicked off production of a waist-mounted, powered air-purifying respirator it designed with 3M on Tuesday, and it plans to begin building ventilators at a plant in Michigan next week. Earlier this week, Ford announced it was helping a supplier that makes airbags use the material instead for reusable medical gowns for health care workers. Employees are also manufacturing protective face masks at its Van Dyke Transmission Plant, plastic face shields at a subsidiary near Detroit and helping a medical device company ramp up production of Covid-19 field testing kits. Related Video:     Ford Lincoln SUV

Ford reserving 50th Anniversary Mustangs for service members

Think getting your hands on one of the 1,964 50th Anniversary Ford Mustangs is hard as a civilian? Imagine how tough it might be for the Mustang fanatics in our nation's military. Perhaps recognizing this fact, Ford Emerging Market Services and the Overseas Military Sales Corporation (the only Ford-authorized retailer on the military's bases) ran a raffle, with the winners receiving the opportunity to purchase one of the limited-edition muscle cars. Ford EMS and OMS received 300 entries to the raffle, although with only eight 50th Anniversary Stangs to hand out, we imagine there were quite a lot of disappointed soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines. "We are pleased to offer limited-edition anniversary Mustangs to members of our military through our Military Appreciation Program, and we are delighted at the response it's receiving," Doug Walczak, EMS' fleet sales manager, said. The first Mustang was delivered to Army Maj. Del Boyer, shown above. While Maj. Boyer took delivery in New York, the raffle was open to servicemembers both at home and abroad.