BERLIN, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Germany's IG Metall union

lashed out on Wednesday at plans to cut thousands of jobs at

Ford, saying that the restructuring would spell a slow death for

the U.S. automaker's production site in Cologne.

"In our view, this would be an incremental death," IG Metall

representative Kerstin Klein said of the plans' expected impact

on the Cologne plant.

"We know the toolbox available in such a dispute and will

not hesitate in giving the workforce the appropriate outlet for

their anger," David Luedtke, a workforce representative, said in

the statement from the union.

(Writing by Rachel More

Editing by Madeline Chambers)