This month marks the beginning of Ford Motor Company's buyout process at a St. Louis plant dedicated to producing Explorer sport-utility vehicles. The plant is scheduled to close later this year, and its 1,300 unionized employees are choosing between several options offering varying levels of cash, health benefits, and college tuition. The buyouts and closings are part of a nationwide downsizing that Ford is enacting to stem recent domestic losses.
See "Buyouts begin at Ford plant", Chicago Tribune, March 22, 2006