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Ford offers buyouts to all UAW workers
Reuters ^

Posted on 12/21/2009 12:48:47 PM PST by Sub-Driver

Ford offers buyouts to all UAW workers Photo 3:27pm EST

DETROIT (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co said Monday it is offering its 41,000 U.S. factory workers buyouts and early retirement offers in a bid to reduce its payroll costs as it aims to return to profit by 2011.

The buyouts mark the second round of such offers for Ford workers represented by the United Auto Workers union. About 1,000 workers took offers to leave the automaker in July.

Ford workers have until late January to accept the offers, which include payouts of up to $70,000 cash for newer hires to $60,000 cash for veterans already eligible for retirement.

"Despite a strengthening in our business, we still have a surplus in employees," said Ford spokesman Mark Truby.

(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...


TOPICS: Breaking News; Business/Economy; News/Current Events; US: Michigan
KEYWORDS: automakers; detroit; ford; fordmotor; uaw; unions
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The Obama economy.........
1 posted on 12/21/2009 12:48:50 PM PST by Sub-Driver
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To: Sub-Driver
smart business move.

I had expected GM & Chrysler to do this earlier. If they did do it,I missed it.

2 posted on 12/21/2009 12:51:47 PM PST by stylin19a
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To: Sub-Driver
Long overdue, but certainly appropriate.
3 posted on 12/21/2009 12:51:47 PM PST by Pox
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To: Sub-Driver

Is this a union-busting strategy?


4 posted on 12/21/2009 12:51:53 PM PST by GreyFriar (Spearhead - 3rd Armored Division 75-78 & 83-87)
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To: Sub-Driver

41,000 fewer UAW members !!!! Hope they don’t count as legacies.


5 posted on 12/21/2009 12:52:27 PM PST by stevecmd
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To: Sub-Driver

I like Ford. I loathe the stinking UAW.


6 posted on 12/21/2009 12:52:51 PM PST by Frantzie (Judge David Carter - democrat & dishonorable Marine like John Murtha.)
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To: Sub-Driver

Go Ford! Divest yourself of all UAW members. It will improve your image in the market place and improve your product. Get rid of the union and you won’t be able to build cars fast enough!


7 posted on 12/21/2009 12:52:52 PM PST by pgkdan ( I miss Ronald Reagan!)
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To: GreyFriar

Sounds more like a strategy designed to make Ford competitive and profitable over the long term.

Should have been done decades ago.


8 posted on 12/21/2009 12:53:21 PM PST by Pox
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To: Sub-Driver
...we still have a surplus in employees...

Hmmm, everywhere you look these days, there is a surplus of employees.

Sadly, and to quote Marxist Obama... and you ain't seen nuthin' yet.

.

9 posted on 12/21/2009 12:53:57 PM PST by Seaplaner (Never give in. Never give in. Never...except to convictions of honour and good sense. W. Churchill)
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To: stylin19a
I had expected GM & Chrysler to do this earlier. If they did do it,I missed it.

Seeing as their owned in large part by the UAW I wouldn't hold my breath for that to happen.

10 posted on 12/21/2009 12:54:06 PM PST by pgkdan ( I miss Ronald Reagan!)
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To: GreyFriar

Sounds like it. If Ford can dump UAW, they can leave Detroit for a right-to-work state.


11 posted on 12/21/2009 12:54:17 PM PST by Terabitten (Vets wrote a blank check, payable to the Constitution, for an amount up to and including their life.)
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To: GreyFriar

Hope so.


12 posted on 12/21/2009 12:54:17 PM PST by RoadGumby (For God so loved the world)
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To: Sub-Driver

It’s not quite the same as banning UAW members from all Ford-owned property and instituting a policy of hiring non-unionized employees, but it’s a nice start.


13 posted on 12/21/2009 12:55:24 PM PST by Terpfen (FR is being Alinskied. Remember, you only take flak when you're over the target.)
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To: Sub-Driver

I know they’re cutting dental benefits. They cut back the dividend checks to deceased retirees’ spouses to 65%. When mom complains I tell her to thank God that Ford did not take bailout money.


14 posted on 12/21/2009 12:55:59 PM PST by ReneeLynn (Socialism is SO yesterday. Fascism, it*s the new black. Mmm Mmm Mmm.)
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To: GreyFriar

Union-busting?

We can only hope. The only good union is a dead one.


15 posted on 12/21/2009 12:56:09 PM PST by Bronyaur
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To: Sub-Driver

Perhaps Ford wants to go back to being an auto manufacturer instead of a health care & retirement services company.


16 posted on 12/21/2009 12:56:32 PM PST by red-dawg
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To: Sub-Driver
I wonder if you could throw an extra % into the buyout if they de-certify the Union on the way out the door.

That would help Ford and American industry in general.

17 posted on 12/21/2009 12:57:29 PM PST by AreaMan
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To: Sub-Driver

Alright. UAW declared war on Ford, now Ford has countered.


18 posted on 12/21/2009 12:57:50 PM PST by GeronL
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To: GreyFriar

Partly, but that’s not the macro-economic issue here.

There is an abundance of auto production in the world, period. There is far too much auto production capacity in the US, and the world (esp. Japan, Korea and the EU combined) to allow all companies to survive in their current form.

This is why GM got to the point of rolling up Saab. Is there a need for Saab cars out there? Nope. They fulfill no unique product requirement in the market, unlike (eg) Subaru, which has a pretty unique product in a niche market. Saab is just another Euro-weenie car, not unlike a dozen others.

Ford’s management (which is increasingly from outside Detroit) now sees this situation for what it is: a deflationary environment, where the consumer’s buying power will be crushed by declining wages and declining credit availability. Therefore, auto consumption will be constricted for years and years going forward, exacerbating the over-capacity in the US auto market.

The #1 obstacle to the Big Three shedding capacity has been the UAW - who have demanded featherbedding writ large in the form of keeping entire unprofitable product lines/plants in place, bleeding money off the balance sheet. This is what Ford wants to end-run by buying out the UAW, not the usual salary/benefit issues that the UAW imposes on Ford. There’s something else that Ford is probably looking to end-run here too, which is the UAW’s habit of “pattern bargaining” - which means that when the UAW shakes down Uncle Sugar over at Government Motors, the UAW’s precedent is to apply that deal to the other two automakers by previous contract requirement.

Ford is smart to get out from under the UAW. If they can get enough of the UAW to take the buy-out, I might just buy a buttload of F.


19 posted on 12/21/2009 1:01:12 PM PST by NVDave
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To: Sub-Driver

If I were them I would take the money and run.


20 posted on 12/21/2009 1:01:16 PM PST by My Favorite Headache
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