SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 40
WHEREAS, there are more than 33,000 jobs in the motor vehicle and equipment manufacturing industry in Missouri; and
WHEREAS, the most recent figures for complete employment and wage data reveal a contribution of more than one and three-quarter billion dollars to the Missouri economy; and
WHEREAS, the state of Missouri has enjoyed a long-term partnership and mutually supportive relationship with Ford Motor Company; and
WHEREAS, this relationship began in 1907 with the opening of a sales and stock operation in St. Louis, the opening of a Ford plant in 1911 in Kansas City followed by the establishment of a Ford Model T plant in St. Louis in 1914; and
WHEREAS, the state of Missouri has long recognized the need for keeping Fords' work force as skilled and productive as possible and thus over the past decade has provided more than twenty-four million dollars in job training funds for the company in Missouri; and
WHEREAS, for more than 40 years, St. Louis had been one of the principal manufacturing satellites of Ford Motor Company; and
WHEREAS, St. Louis holds the distinction as the only metropolitan area outside Michigan with plants from all of the Big Three automakers; and
WHEREAS, Ford Motor Company has announced it will close its plant in Hazelwood by the middle of this decade, eliminating 2,640 jobs; and
WHEREAS, workers at the Hazelwood plant generate an annual payroll of approximately $165 million; and
WHEREAS, industry analysts rate the Explorer, made in Hazelwood, as the nation's top-selling sport utility vehicle; and
WHEREAS, reports by Harbour & Associates, Inc., of Troy, Michigan, which list Hazelwood as the fourth most efficient auto plant in the nation; and
WHEREAS, an auto plant has a substantial ripple effect on the surrounding economy, including the plant's need for parts and services, each Ford job supports three and a half other jobs in the area, pumping approximately $2.6 billion, directly and indirectly, into the St. Louis economy each year:
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the members of the Missouri Senate, Ninety-first General Assembly, Second Regular Session, the House of Representatives concurring therein, support the assembly by the Governor of the Task Force on the Ford-Hazelwood Retention and direct the Task Force to immediately develop and execute a strategic plan to obtain the continued occupation and operation of the Hazelwood Ford Assembly Plant by Ford Motor Company; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we most strongly urge the owners, executives and board of directors of Ford Motor Company to rescind their decision and work with the State of Missouri to find a mutually beneficial alternative to the closing of the Hazelwood plant; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of the Senate be instructed to prepare properly inscribed copies of this resolution for the owners, executives and board of directors of Ford Motor Company.