Ford eyes deep U.S. blue-collar job cuts - sources; 21,000 jobs of its blue-collar work force...

Forbes/ ^ | 08-01-03

[Brian S]

DETROIT, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co. hopes to eliminate about 21,000 jobs or 20 percent of its blue-collar work force over the life of a new collective bargaining agreement with the United Auto Workers union, sources familiar with the company's plans said this week.

When it unveiled a multiyear turnaround plan to recover from a deepening financial crisis in January last year, the world's second largest automaker said it planned to cut about 12,000 hourly jobs, nearly all represented by the UAW.

But sources close to the company said it was now looking at shrinking even further its blue-collar ranks, which include workers at its former auto parts subsidiary Visteon Corp. . Ford hopes to cut roughly 5 percent a year over the duration of a four-year contract with the UAW.

The cuts would be achieved through attrition -- meaning that Ford would not replace workers as they quit or retire -- and the company's total blue-collar work force would be cut to around 73,000 employees from 94,000, the sources said.

Anne Marie Gattari, a Ford spokeswoman, declined to comment on the nature of any planned cutback, which could complicate the contract talks that Ford and other Detroit automakers opened with the UAW two weeks ago.

But Ford's plan would be bolstered by the fact that the company has a large number of factory workers who are at or near completing 30 years of service with the automaker, when they will be eligible for retirement.

At Ford's assembly plant in Lorain, Ohio, for example, almost one-third of the work force is eligible for retirement.

Though Ford's push to cut jobs through attrition could represent a major challenge for the UAW, which has been hurt by the loss of more than half its membership since 1979, it is not without precedent.

The union allowed General Motors Corp. to use attrition to scale back its work force repeatedly under contracts over the past decade, and more than 17,000 factory jobs were eliminated at GM alone under terms of the current UAW contract with little or no protest from the union's leadership.

The UAW negotiated one of the richest contracts in U.S. labor history in 1999, at a time when GM, Ford and the Chrysler arm of DaimlerChrysler were all coming off record profits.

But those profits have long since vanished, and many analysts and labor experts believe the UAW will endorse major cost-cutting efforts at Ford and its cross-town rivals as a trade-off for keeping generous health care and retirement benefits.

At Ford, in particular, company officials have said the UAW will have to lift a four-year ban on U.S. plant closings so it can proceed with its restructuring plan by eliminating excess production capacity.

[Brian S]

It is quite likely that Ford Motor Co., as we know it, will not survive. JMHO.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

I don't see why this isn't a good idea. If the jobs are not necessary, for Ford to produce the vehicles, then why would they want to hire bodies to perform unnecessary tasks?

I tend to distrust unions, so maybe I am missing the point of the article.

[Joe Boucher]

Guess I'll not buy a ford then and I'm about to get a new truck.
Maybe toyota has a better idea?

[Lijahsbubbe]

Ford can't compete with auto companies who don't pay union wages, so they give the employees more and more to do in less time.

In defense of the autoworkers, American autoworkers are the ones who have made the big profits for Ford during the big profit years. Overseas did not do well.

Ford had Jaques forgot-his-last-name as CEO and he dinked around with their money, didn't focus the money on design and auto building, they got rid of him. They definitely have a management problem.

Alot of people think autoworkers are paid too much, but it is some of the hardest work you can do. They definitely need their health benefits, most have chronic health problems (carpal tunnel, rotater cuff, back) and a big majority will not escape the line without some type of surgery.

I see no easy answers, as there is no way to compete with the foreign companies, or cheap labor. But I do know the auto industry is a huge part of our economy and those are not jobs we want to lose.





Even so,

[Conservababe]

In 1975, my brother-in-law was making $25.21 sitting in the cars on the line checking the wind shield wipers.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

More fallout from Unions.

[Lijahsbubbe]

Forget the "even so"! (bad editing, not a brain-fart)

[MonroeDNA]

I love the smell of unios dying in the morning.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

I don't hate the automakers. My father, and his father before him, as well as my brother, have worked in the automobile painting systems/robotics industry, and my maternal grandfather worked at the Ford Rouge Plant.

I still have trouble understanding how the unions cannot take the hit of the loss of jobs. If the cars are not selling, then there is no need for the workers. This is the reason why my brother is out of work at the moment.

Doesn't this also go back to the huge incentives given starting in late 2001, to get people to buy new cars? If the families that could afford to do so, already have done this, wouldn't that mean that the sales are seeing a natural decline in demand?

[Crusader21stCentury]

More fallout from Unions.

The only Unions with clout all suck off the tit of the people now. Police,teachers,city workers etc...
Fire them all.

[RightWingNut]

Nasser

[Hotdog]

Your right about the unions...I know first hand...they are pricing themselves out of a job...Tier 1 suppliers can and have been doing the same production for half of what the unions get for Ford

[Lijahsbubbe]

I'm sure the demand is down, and they really couldn't afford the incentives in the first place. They're going broke trying to get people to spend. Hey - who does that remind you of!!

[Timesink]

I can't say I blame them for feeling the need to do this. As long as the Ford Foundation continues to exist in its present form, I will be making no purchases from any unit of the the Ford Motor Company.

[Lijahsbubbe]

What's the deal with the Ford Foundation?

[Timesink]

What's the deal with the Ford Foundation?

EXTREMELY left-wing organization that funds all sorts of things that make conservatives projectile-vomit. There was just a thread around here somewhere a few days ago about their antics.

[MonroeDNA]

The Ford Foundation is as anti-Capitalist as you can get.

[AlbionGirl]

It is so sad to see this class of job being eliminated. For decades many young men and women who had no desire to go on to college, but were good, smart, hard working people have no where to turn.

The worst part is that our society is producing a bunch of people who think the only job worth having is a white collar one, and the trades are looked upon as work fit for the unfit. It's a doggone shame.

I went to school with boys who hated books, but could take apart the engine of a Sunbeam Alpine and put it back together at the age of 15. I've always had a lot of respect for men and women who work with their hands. It's really too bad we produce very little in the US.

The Unions have reacted too little, too late to the onslaught of competition.

[Lijahsbubbe]

Well said!

[damncat]

It's the pension load that's killing the big auto makers. For each worker in the big three, there are two retirees living off the pension fund. Once the work force is reduced even further, who pays for the retirees? The Goliath has finally consumed itself, or could taxpayer subsidies be in our future. The government would probably bail them out, unless the liberals are in power at the time. Then they get what the greenies have been begging for all along. The demise of gas guzzling personal transportation.

My wife designs parts for a subcontractor, she'd been laid off for most of the year. I haven't much hope for her future in auto design. However a relative has just returned from Japan on a Mazda training seminar. The Japanese seem to use their resources much wiser.