On March 18, 2021, a Facebook user shared the potentially big news in the auto industry. The entry read: “17,000 Ohio Ford Motor Jobs Going to Mexico.” It was copied and pasted by several Facebook users:
The post has been shared thousands of times. It has also been copied and pasted by other users and possibly shared as a screenshot elsewhere.
That was misleading. There was no evidence that the Ford Motor Company sent “17,000” jobs in Ohio to Mexico, although the vague Facebook post appeared to reference events that had only unfolded days before.
On March 16, Detroit Free Press reported that a Ford facility in Avon Lake, Ohio worked 1,700 people an hour. The number appeared to have been increased to “17,000” in the Facebook post.
In November 2019, Ford reportedly planned to add 1,500 more jobs to the plant later. However, in March 2021, the United Auto Workers (UAW) union announced that these additional jobs would now be part of a plant in Mexico.
When Detroit Free Press asked if Ford intended to start these jobs in Mexico instead of Ohio, the company replied, “We don’t have any additional details to provide at this time.”
While the company did not throw light on this issue, the Free Press received a statement from the automaker. Kelli Felker is a global manager for manufacturing and work communications at Ford. “We’re always looking at our options,” said Felker.
“We still plan to invest $ 6 billion and create and maintain 8,500 jobs in America over this four-year deal,” she said.
“We have invested in the Ohio assembly plant and our dedicated employees there. As of 2019, we’ve invested more than $ 185 million and created and maintained more than 100 jobs at the Ohio assembly plant, including actions planned for this year. This includes increasing our capacity to build additional Super Duty trucks at the Ohio assembly plant to meet strong consumer demand. “
Overall, it was misleading for Facebook posts to claim that “17,000” Ford Motor Company jobs in Ohio went to Mexico. In reality, a plant in Avon Lake, Ohio, has 1,700 hourly employees and the future location of an estimated 1,500 additional jobs was unknown.
We are reaching out to Ford for clarification and will update this story if we hear anything.
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