Ford Motor Co has told the United Auto Workers union that it has about 4,000 more hourly workers than it needs because of slumping sales, a person familiar with the discussion said on Thursday.



Ford, which posted a second-quarter net loss of $8.7 billion, has been offering buyouts to hourly workers at numerous plants across the United States as it cuts capacity to meet demand.



After thousands of workers had accepted earlier buyout offers in recent years, Ford has found fewer employees willing to take them in this round, given the weakness of the economy and a slumping housing market.



About 4,200 Ford workers accepted buyouts that had been offered to all UAW-represented employees in the first quarter.



Ford has never announced a buyout target for its U.S. hourly work force.



The No. 2 U.S. automaker behind General Motors Corp ended the second quarter with 60,600 hourly workers in North America, including those at former Visteon Corp plants that it agreed to buy back in 2005. It has cut about 40,000 hourly workers from its payroll since the end of 2005.



Ford conveyed its projection of a surplus of about 4,000 workers to UAW leaders in confidential meetings this week, said the source, who was not authorized to discuss the talks.



Both Ford and the UAW declined to comment.