As Ford delays the launch of the new Ford F-150 pickup, 260 UAW members who weld that truck’s frame in Elizabethtown will be out of a job by Sunday. The mass layoff leaves just one shift of 475 workers who will still earn an average of $15 per hour at the plant a half-hour drive south of Louisville.

Some of the workers to be laid off at Dana include assembly line and skilled trade hands hired in January, UAW Local 3047 recording secretary Wayne Kolley said Tuesday. But then gas hit $4 a gallon, truck sales plummeted, and Ford announced drastic action to temporarily close or take its F-150 plants down to just one shift through the third quarter.

“We were having a hard time finding people to work back in January. It turned around rather quickly,” Kolley said Wednesday. “Now we see the writing on the wall. This is an indefinite layoff, unless business picks up and the economy gets better.”

Dana Corp., based in Toledo, Ohio, just emerged from bankruptcy court protection late last year. From her office in Maumee, a suburb of Toledo, Dana spokeswoman Jamie Bibbs said the auto parts supplier is trimming production to cope with lurching change in the auto industry.

“We are adjusting our production for the market,” Bibbs said.

Dana’s contract with UAW Local 3047 grants workers paid health insurance for three months following the layoff, Kolley said. Unemployment benefits, he estimated, will provide workers with about $400 a week.