"Dignity and respect" for the workers at Ford's Broadmeadows plant on October 7, as the Falcon line shuts for the final time.
As the clock runs out on Ford Falcon, Falcon ute and Territory production in Australia, Ford Australia chief Graham Whickman has declared that the factory's final day will not be turned into a media circus.
Speaking to journalists in Queensland at the launch of the Focus RS, Whickman said that plans are under way for the final day, which is set down for October 7.
In a bittersweet irony, it's also the opening day of the 2016 Bathurst 1000 touring car enduro, the event where the Falcon and its arch nemesis, the Holden Commodore, etched themselves into Australian folklore over the last five decades.
A win on Sunday would be poignant.
Two Ford Australia plants – the engine facility at Geelong and the Falcon/Territory manufacturing line at Broadmeadows – will be permanently shuttered, after the company announced in 2013 that it was pulling out of local production.
More than 850 workers will lose their jobs, with 350 roles already cut.
"We've got a series of private events, and they are only with the directly affected employees and we are going to have those events over the two sites," said Whickman. "It won't involve dealers or other employees. We are going to honour them like we said we were going to."
There are people directly affected and we are going to do this with dignity and respect. They are not going to be sitting there as objects for people to take photos of.
Media will not be allowed into the facilities on October 7, he said, to allow the affected employees to process the final day on their terms, and not under the glare of television cameras.
"There are a lot of different stakeholders and some of those, including the media, and employees that aren't affected, will be handled separate to those private events," he said.
"We've said from the outset that there are people directly affected and we are going to do this with dignity and respect. They are not going to be sitting there as objects for people to take photos of.
"Put yourself in their shoes. You're trying to work and you've got people around you with some sort of curiosity that isn't necessarily healthy and that' s not fair. We're not putting our employees in a glass bowl."
Ford Australia communications and public affairs director Wes Sherwood said celebrating the last Falcon and Territory models to roll down the line at the 57-year-old facility would be conducted over a number of different events.
The vehicles will not go into hiding. The final models will be accessible for people over time.
"There will be a lot of people who want to say goodbye to Falcon, Falcon ute and Territory, and so that will be part of it," he said.
"The vehicles will not go into hiding. The final models will be accessible for people over time."
Whickman dismissed the rumours that the plant would shut early because of falling demand for the Falcon.
"Regardless of the drop in the volumes we said we were going to go for a period of time and we set ourselves out to do that," he said.
"We knew there were some pros and cons to that, but we certainly want to do it in the proper way and we will honour those commitments."
Holden announced last week that it would turn off the Cruze production line in its Adelaide plant on the same day with the loss of 320 jobs, ahead of a shutdown of Commodore production at the end of 2017.
Toyota, meanwhile, will close its Camry plant in Altona, Victoria, at the end of 2017, affecting some 6500 employees.
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