Ford will retain 1,000 jobs at French plant

BLANQUEFORT, France (Reuters) -- Ford Motor Co. will retain 1,000 jobs at a transmissions plant in southwest France after striking a deal with local authorities to share the burden of new investments needed to keep the factory operating. Under the deal, Ford will invest 125 million euros ($162 million) and local authorities will invest 12.5 million euros to produce a next-generation transmission for compact cars in Europe, in exchange for guarantees to retain workers for five years. The plant in Blanquefort, near Bordeaux, currently employs about 1,200 workers, only 300 of whom are actively employed. The remainder of the workers receive a pay cheque and come to work but have no activity in the plant. Previously, the factory produced components for old-model Ford cars in the United States, but it has been reducing its production for years as the cars went out of production. Its work force has shrunk from a high of 3,000 in the 1970s. Ford sold the plant in 2009 to German investment company HZ Holding, which intended to use it to build windmill parts. That deal fell apart when HZ Holding's industrial partner pulled out, and Ford bought its factory back in early 2011.