Ford To Announce Buyouts (as many as 11,000 union jobs and up to 2,000 salaried positions)

[Purveyor]

Source: Wall Street Journal Online

January 23, 2008 10:09 a.m.

DETROIT – Ford Motor Co., still needing to cut costs amid worsening economic conditions, will announce as soon as Thursday that it has reached agreement with the United Auto Workers union on terms for a new wave of buyout packages that could trim thousands of jobs, people familiar with the matter said.

Ford's goal in offering the buyouts will be to trim as many as 11,000 union jobs and up to 2,000 salaried positions from its payrolls, one of these people said, in addition to workers the company has already shed as part of an accelerated restructuring announced in late 2006.

Ford, which could announce the new round of buyouts during its year-end earnings conference call Thursday, hopes to part with most of the workers by the end of the first quarter, a person familiar with the matter said. Union workers who accept a buyout could be allowed to depart as soon as March 1, while salaried employees could leave by April or May, this person said.

Ford and the UAW had already agreed to more attrition packages as part of a new four-year labor contract negotiated two months ago. But officials on both sides were still negotiating the terms of further buyouts at the start of the new year. Ford intends to notify its work force about the new buyouts over the next two weeks, people familiar with the company's plans said.

A Ford spokesman said the auto maker has "an agreement in principle to offer buyouts to our hourly employees. We're working with the UAW regarding the packages to be offered and the timing of the packages." The spokesman said Ford would make an official announcement "relatively soon." A UAW spokesman didn't return a telephone message seeking comment.



Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120110001996710003.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

[N4457S]

1. Maybe...

...they'll get bought. The new F-150 and the Fusion are supposed to be great products.

[Purveyor]

2. I would guess that they will go into bankruptcy first to wipeout the union contracts and retiree

obligations.

[Blue_Tires]

3. i certainly hope it doesn't come to that...

[Blue_Tires]

4. and the mustang too, of course

welcome to the site

[Doctor_J]

5. This is what the end of america looks like

I bet these people won't be counted on the unemployment logs.

[Bigmack]

6. What does "buyout" mean?

Does it mean that workers with only a few years until retirement will go early?

Whatever happens, these are high-pay jobs, and I don't see them coming back.

Retirees don't pay as much in taxes, and most jobs people get when they leave Ford will be lots lower in pay. Hard to stimulate an economy that way.

[Roland99]

7. Didn't they do that like a year or two ago?

Good thing we got NAFTA so Ford could move plants south of the border or else they'd have no one to actually build their vehicles.

[OhioChick]

8. Drip, Drip, Drip....

Hear That? That's the Bleeding of US Jobs.