By Doug Cunningham

Ford and the UAW drove another nail into the coffin of good middle-class U.S. auto jobs Thursday with the announcement of a buyout offer going to all 54,000 UAW Ford workers. Ford is offering the one-time cash lump sums to get rid of well-paid autoworkers so they can be replaced with workers earning half the wages. Ford says it lost $2.7 billion in 2007. The Ford buyout offer comes on top of GM’s similar new buyouts this year – part of a strategic plan by the automakers to destroy good wages and benefits won through decades of struggle by the UAW rank and file. Similar buyouts were offered in 2007.