LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Ford Motor Co.'s two Louisville auto plants could be back to work as soon as May 4, union officials told their members in a pair of memos on Thursday.
In the memos, the top UAW Local 862 officials at Kentucky Truck Plant and Louisville Assembly Plant each stressed that the May 4 date is "tentative" and could change.
Ford would not confirm its production plans.
"We are continuing to assess public health conditions, government guidelines and supplier readiness to determine when the time is right to resume production in our North American plants. We’ll share more detail at the appropriate time," the company said in a statement Thursday.
More than 12,000 workers have been laid off the Louisville Ford plants since March 20.
Allen Hughes, the UAW Local 862 building chairman at Kentucky Truck Plant, said in his memo that the company has "wide ranging" plans for "safe guards" against the spread of the novel coronavirus when workers return to KTP.
Hughes added that KTP would restart with two shifts instead of the three that had been in place before the virus-related shutdown.
