January 24, 2008 (LPAC)--In the latest move in its ongoing suicide pact with the United Auto Workers, Ford Motor Company announced, along with its fourth-quarter loss of $2.8 billion, a plan to offer all 54,000 of its U.S. hourly workers a buyout and early retirement package, to cut more jobs and replace workers with those making a lower wage. Ford previously eliminated 44,000 jobs since the beginning of 2006. CEO Alan Mulally said the new round of buyouts was negotiated with the UAW. Under the two-phase buyout plan, those who take the packages in this round, an expected 13,000, would likely leave the company starting April 1, with all of them gone by year's end.