Ford recalls laid off engine plant employees

A number of CAW Local 200 members laid off from the Ford Windsor engine plant will have a merrier Christmas.

The company is calling them back to work in January because it wants to increase the volume of production.

Chris Taylor is the president of CAW local 200 and says it's very good news.

'Anything we get recalled ... is good news for us.' Chris Taylor, CAW Local 200

The company laid off 400 employees from the plant in August 2010 and still has 1,000 employees laid off in Windsor.

Windsor Engine currently produces 850 engines each day. The company wants to up the number to 925 to meet increased demand for the V8 engine used mainly in its lines of SUVs.

Taylor believes that between 20 and 40 employees on lay off will be called back to work at the Windsor engine plant.

"Anything we get recalled when you still have 900-1000 people on layoff is good news for us," Taylor said. "We've had 1,000 people [laid off] for well over a year. With the retirement packages that we recently had and this increase in volume it's going to put us below the 1,000 mark. That's a huge accomplishment for our members."

The jobs are currently posted and the recalled employees should be back on the line in early January.

"It'd be nice to get them back to work prior to Christmas but we'll take what we can get," Taylor said.

Taylor said Ford must expect annual vehicle sales in America to increase.

"We have not seen it yet, but we've seen spikes," Taylor said."I will say this ... 2012 is looking better than the start of 2011."