(March 17, 2013) GENK, Belgium — Ford Motor Company said Friday it plans to restart production at its Genk, Belgium, assembly plant after a majority of the plant’s hourly employees and supplier park hourly employees voted in favor of a social plan offer.

“We are pleased to have reached a social plan agreement that was accepted by the unions and approved by the hourly employees at Genk,” said Philippe Verbeeck, operations manager, Ford Genk. “We fully recognize that this has been a difficult time for everyone at the Ford Genk plant, our suppliers and the local community.”

Ford said it intends to restart production of the Mondeo, S-MAX and Galaxy vehicles on Monday as an important step to rebuilding dealer stocks of the vehicles to meet consumer demand.  The company also reiterated its desire to continue to produce vehicles at the plant through the end of 2014 if a return to normal working is achieved.

Ford said it remains in discussions with the Ford Genk salaried trade unions on a social plan for those employees.