Ford Motor Co. took the first step in its next restructuring by confirming it plans to trim up to 4000 white-collar jobs in North America by the end of March.

Mark Fields, Ford president of the Americas, disclosed the plan in an e-mail distributed to Ford employees. The cuts will include full-time and contract positions. Some of the cuts will come through attrition but others will require layoffs, according to Fields, who is expected to lay out the full scope of the company's restructuring plan in January.

The plan is expected to include the closure of assembly plants and the reduction of other operations. The plan was originally due in October but William Clay Ford Jr., Ford's chairman and chief executive officer, decided to defer implementation to give Fields and his chief deputy Anne Stevens a chance to review the plans and put their own stamp on it.

Ron Gettelfinger, president of the United Auto Workers, confirmed last week that the union has opened discussions with Ford about revisions to the healthcare benefits that are part of the UAW's contract with the automaker. Gettelfinger didn't offer any timetable for completing the healthcare agreement with Ford, but the union has already agreed to a package of concessions to General Motors that is expected to save that automaker as much as $3 billion. Ford's problems with healthcare costs are not as severe as GM's because the company has fewer retirees, but they are still substantial.