Thanks to Local 862 UAW President Rocky Comito's cooperation,we now know that the Ford payroll in Louisville is down nearly one-third since May, 2006. 2700 Ford positions have vanished.

Comito crunched those numbers at my request:

Louisville Assembly Plant:
May 2006: 3269
Nov 2007: 2048
A reduction of 1221 jobs is a 37% drop in LAP employment.

Kentucky Trucky Plant
May 2006: 5450
Nov 2007: 3966
A reduction of 1484 jobs is a 27% drop in KTP employment.

Overall, the 2700 jobs lost is a 31% drop in Louisville, from about 8,700 to 6,000 today.

In a wide ranging interview in his Chamberlain Lane union hall office, Comito repeatedly stressed his admiration and appreciation for UAW members and for the UAW leaders who helped negotiate the new contract with Ford.

He thinks it will be years before the newly created lower-paid entry jobs
open up, because so many current UAW members have rights to be relocated.

But, seemingly no one can stop the manufacturing downturn in the U.S.. That historical trend is seen with the loss of close to 20,000 manufacturing jobs in Louisville in the past decade. That's according to University of Louisville economist Dr. Paul Coomes.

"America needs manufacturing as much as just the job," Comito insisted, "We just need to have the manufacturing for our own protection in the future. God forbid we ever do have another war, I don't think the enemy is going to be the one to sell us our bullets."

Mayor Jerry Abramson says Louisville will hold on to as many manufacturing jobs as possible, but says the future is in the "knowledge based" economy.

"So the change is occuring," the Mayor explained in my interview with him in the Metro Hall gallery. "Louisville is going through the change just as every other city is around the country.

"And we've done a pretty good job and Ford has been... Ford, G-E, many of the other manufacturers in the community have really held their own. But, it's tough."

The estimated $160 million lost with the 2,700 jobs represents about 1% of the $16 billion in wages earned in Jefferson County each year. Factor in the multiplier effect Ford jobs have in creating other jobs, and Coomes estimates that it's closer to a 2% - 3% wage hit in Jefferson County.

Abramson says Ford's occupational tax receipts are down 8% - 9% from last year. That will probably get worse, because the city was able to tax cash buyouts from workers that were leaving. Next year, those jobs are just gone.

Coomes estimates the loss of 2,700 Ford jobs will cost local government $3.2 million annually.

$2 million - city budget
$300,000 - TARC
$900,000 - JCPS

"It's definitely a huge net reduction of their workforce and their payrolls hitting this economy," Coomes explained, "So there's no question it's a major negative shock to our economy."