Hundreds of new jobs are on hold at Ford's Oakville assembly complex.

"We consider the delay to be indefinite at this point," said Ford Canada spokesperson Lauren More, speaking of 350 employees who were asked not to report for orientation next Monday.

The rest -- 160 -- have been guaranteed positions at the plant. They are former Ford workers laid off from the Windsor engine plant, said More.

"They will get phased in over the next few weeks as scheduled," she said.

High fuel prices, shifts to smaller vehicles and the lack of consumer confidence in the U.S. market are all affecting the auto industry, said More.

"It's devastating," said Gary Beck, president of Canadian Auto Workers Local 707. "They thought they were going to have a future and now everything is on hold."

For awhile, it seemed Ford might be, as Beck put it, the bright spot in a downward-spiralling auto industry.

While the company lost $15.3 billion in 2006-07, it had hoped to stabilize this year and, in April, announced 500 job openings in Oakville. These were to be hired to work on the plant's third final assembly operations shift -- making Ford Edge, Lincoln MKX crossovers and Ford Flex cars.

Then sales of these vehicles dropped, said CAW president Buzz Hargrove.

The company is scheduled to unveil a new direction tomorrow along with a report on its quarterly earnings.

cwhitwell@thespec.com

905-526-2452

-- With files from Spectator news services and Spectator staff