In December, Ford will begin retooling its factory in Louisville, Kentucky. Even Todd Dunn, president of UAW Local 862, insists, “In the end, it’s going to be a great outcome.” But in the meantime, 2,000 workers will be laid off for at least 10 months.

These workers can expect higher unemployment benefits for the next four months. But they won’t have much money coming in for the final six months of their unemployment. And of course, the retooling could run behind schedule—or the automaker could change its plans.

Jim Fisher, the union’s benefits representative, said, “I encourage our members to go out and get gainfully employed into the community.” That’s easier said than done. If a Detroit factory lays off workers, those workers have a good chance of landing a shift at another nearby factory. In Kentucky, there are fewer options for this skill set—especially with a flood of other workers entering the same job market.

Fisher highlighted a silver lining. “Be prepared to come back to work when we are ready to fire right back up with our new vehicle.”

Ford’s next “Model T moment”

Fisher is echoing Ford CEO Jim Farley’s excitement for the future of Louisville as an EV factory. Farley has even called the retooling a second “Model T moment.”

The automaker will use a Tesla-style Gigapress to stamp entire front and rear subassemblies from single sheets of aluminum. These subassemblies will attach directly to a load-bearing battery pack. Ford is also engineering its “Universal EV Platform” with 20% fewer parts and 25% fewer fasteners than the average internal-combustion vehicle. Finally, it’s leveraging new software to dramatically reduce the number of computer chips in each model.

The company hopes to begin building a $30,000 compact, electric, four-door pickup truck in Kentucky sometime in 2027. Ford recently renewed its trademark on “Ranchero,” but hasn’t confirmed whether that will be the model name. The automaker’s goal is to make the new truck’s five-year purchase and operating costs lower than a used Tesla Model Y.

If Ford can pull this off, it could parallel the original Model T — a car Henry Ford famously priced so his own factory workers could afford it. Ford’s Kentucky workers will no doubt appreciate more affordable transportation on the market. But that future may still feel painfully distant during month 10 of their layoff.