Ford May Invest $2 Billion in Historic Plant

Ford Motor Co. may spend $2 billion to improve the historic Rouge plant--once the largest factory in the world and the only place a car could be built from start to finish. The 1,100-acre Dearborn, Mich., complex, which some have likened to a city unto itself, also was the site of some of the century’s fiercest labor battles, which helped shape the United Auto Workers. Now the UAW could help make sure the 79-year-old plant continues well into the next century. About 6,500 members of Local 600 will vote this week on changing their contract to limit some workers’ in-plant transfers--a change Ford wanted before it spends $2 billion, a UAW spokesman said. In return, Ford will make a new Mustang at the plant in 2001, and possibly a new product, and invest $1.25 billion for a body shop and paint shop, according to a UAW document. Ford also will invest $500 million in the Rouge engine plant, $88 million each in the frame and tool and die plants, and $71 million in the stamping plant, the document said.