About 38,000 of Ford’s UAW-represented hourly workers have accepted voluntary buyout packages this year.

That includes approximately 30,000 buyout offers preliminarily accepted during the recent system-wide open enrollment period that concluded this week.

Ford began the year with about 83,000 UAW-represented employees.

“While I know that in many cases decisions to leave the company were difficult for our employees,” says Alan Mulally, Ford’s president and CEO, “the acceptances received through this voluntary effort will help Ford to become more competitive.”

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