Automaker Ford Motor Company will be axing around 185 jobs at its assembly plant in Ontario, as per a media report. The report states that the union president had informed that the company is implementing changes to operations where they will cut one of the three shifts at the plant’s paint shop. The automaker will also be reducing production by about five units per hour beginning in January, it added.

Dave Thomas, President of Unifor Local 707 said in a local website, “Adding to the bad news, the company predicts based on the number of job reductions in August they foresee a permanent layoff of approximately 185 members in September 2019, with a possibility of additional members laid off in January 2020,” Dave Thomas, president of Unifor Local 707 said in a local website.

He further attributed the changes to cost expenses and slowing sales. The plant will slow production as of August 1, cutting one shift and reducing hours, Thomas added. However, Ford has informed the government that will be assisting the employees who lost their jobs.

Currently, the Oakville plant in Ontario has 4,600 employees and the factory produces the Ford Flex, Lincoln MKT, Ford Edge, and Lincoln Nautilus crossovers.

The job cuts come as many companies are doing the same due to slow demand in new vehicle sales across Canada and the US. Canadian auto sales in June were down 7.2% from a year earlier, the latest drop in a 16-month decline. The cuts follow Ford’s announcement in May this year of slashing 7,000 jobs or 10 percent of its global salaried workforce as part of its restructuring process.