Ford To Bring Nearly 2,000 Jobs Back To Factories By 2012

Ford Motor Company

has drafted competitive contracts with the United Auto Workers union, allowing the car maker to bring almost 2,000 jobs back into its factories from parts supply companies,

reports. The contract from 2007 allows Ford to hire workers at $14/hour, about half of the current worker's wages, and factory-level contracts have changed work rules to make the plants more efficient. Many of the jobs will go to factories in Chicago; Sharonville, Ohio, near Cincinnati; and Wayne, Ypsilanti Township and Sterling Heights, Mich., near Detroit, Ford said. Ford Americas President Mark Fields said the UAW has worked with Ford "closely on a more competitive agreement that helped us create the business case for moving more work back to Ford facilities, and back to America," at an auto industry conference in Traverse City, Mich., on Wednesday.