ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) -- Union officials said Thursday that more than two-thirds of the Ford plant workers that are being laid off for the month of December will receive reduced unemployment insurance or no benefits at all.
Roger Terveen is president of the United Auto Workers Local 879. He says only 241 of the 770 workers being laid off at the Ford Ranger plant have enough seniority to qualify for both state unemployment insurance and supplements offered by Ford and the union during such a work stoppage.
Terveen says some of the workers will have no pay during December. Others will qualify only for state benefits.
The workers that are being denied full unemployment insurance are new hires, temporary part-time workers, or are among the 300 Ford workers who took buyouts but have since come back to work at the plant with reduced wages and seniority.
