Ford to cut up to 12 percent of salaried jobs.


All Reuters newsDETROIT (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co plans to cut its U.S. salaried work force by up to 12 percent after its turnaround plan stalled because of the downturn in the U.S. economy, the Detroit News reported on Wednesday.

Ford warned last week it would not achieve its long-standing

goal of returning to profitability in 2009 because of the U.S. economic downturn and a permanent shift in demand toward cars and crossovers and away from large trucks and SUVs.

The automaker also told employees in a memo last week that it expected to make cuts in hourly and salaried employees by August 1 and would detail those steps in July.

The cuts would be involuntary and were still being worked out by Ford, the newspaper reported.

A Ford representative could not be reached immediately for comment.

 

This may be off point, but what do you suppose that this does to quality? More so for the hourly workers, how much effort are they going to put forth if there jobs are in jeopardy?

Just a thought.

T. J.

 

The sword hanging over your head has gotta suck. Let's hope the attitude is, "we are going to sell less, so let's take our time to build them right and build our reputation."

 

The sad thing is Ford is admitting the push towards small cars but the dealers are doing nothing to sell the trucks. It is going to be hard to move an 08 truck with the 09s on the horizon. 130 day inventory, with gas approaching $4/gal or over in some areas and I cannot get dealers to budge. I have 06' that I thought I would move up to the 08 since I figured they would be discounting but I think I will hold out for 2010 and pray for fuel economy.

 

I sincerely have a heavy heart for those of you who may potentially be affected by this move. This all so FMC's senior executive leadership can still enjoy thier 6 and 7 figure salaries. I begrudge them because it's the middle class working man that always takes it up the tail pipe when stuff hits the fan. Sorry for the rant. Ford should have made themselves for flexible in terms of offering fuel sippers as well as our coveted trucks.

Tim

 

The unions bleeding the company dry have no effect on it???

 

...the union autoworkers comprised a large part of a successful middle class who could hope to have a decent lifestyle, retirement, medical benefits, etc.

It appears that you'd prefer your trucks and cars to be built by minimum-wage lackeys who can't even afford to own a car or a home...while the fatcats pull in their 6 and 7-figure salaries and make stupid, short-sighted decisions regarding product planning. Or perhaps they could just build them all in China?

I'm a lifetime Detroit area citizen, and have friends and relatives working in all different capacities for each of the big three. And the union members among them have been proud of their years of work in building some fine vehicles. And they have been proud of the homes they've owned, the kids they put through college, etc...

 

I understand all that but there are plenty of union workers with barely a high school education making way more money than they are worth. Who can afford to buy the vehicles if they cost too much? I will never buy a car from China or Japan. Not a company owned there either. That being said you can't have the unions bleeding the company dry.....the company will have no choice but to scale back. If the automakers are forced to pay 80% or higher to their employees when they are laid off, how is this good for the company???

 

Yes and I'm sure if the autoworkers pay was cut in half, they would reduce the cost of a car/truck in half as well.
Truth is people get tired of hearing this argument. It can go around in circles all day. Fact is the cost of labor is only about 10% of the cost of a car. As far as the getting paid for not working...If Ford designed cars/trucks that the American consumer HAD to have, there would not be any layoffs. How many layoffs you hear about at toyota??? Thats right, they build something the consumer wants (and their workers are paid about the same or more).

And as far as someone being paid more than they are worth.....Who are you (or anyone else) to decide what someone is worth.

Sorry if I come off harsh....I've worked very hard to get where I am in my life and it upsets me when someone is judgmental against a group because of the organization they belong to.

 

God I cannot believe I am about to do this...BUT...

The Toyota plant here in Texas isn't union run. The employees that I know that work there make a bit more than I do. I make a modest living working for Baker Hughes and I know that these guys are pulling down 15-20 dollars an hour (far cry from minimum wage) and then can get bumped up to 21-25 an hour after they have been there for a few years. Experts estimate that with bennies the employees cost Toyota 35 an hour. Experts estimate that the average employee cost for say, GM is approximately 81 dollars an hour due to employee legacy costs. I am sure that Ford is having to deal with the same issue.

I am not saying that unions are evil...but man, in some cases they do hurt.
The original need for unions was the barbaric situations that employees had to deal with back in the late 1800's/early 1900's. The employees needed a single voice to help them get proper treatment and safe work environments. I think we are past that and that union regulation is nearing the end of its necessity.

I have opened the can of worms here. I normally don't evoke the Toy name...but I felt that it was necessary in this case.

Let the flames begin, as they are so prominent around here.

 

Sir, you are so on point with your comments. Since retiring from the Coast Guard I have become a VERY proud employee of the US Postal Service as a city letter carrier. I serve nearly 800 individual addresses each day using only my back and my feet.

Postal workers throughout the country are constantly harassed and threatened by the postal inspection service and postal management. Employees are subject to verbal abuse and physical abuse in terms of the expectation that we perform 9-10 hours of work in an 8 hour day.

Thank GOD for our unions. The National Association of letter Carriers ensures that we are well compensated and protected from these barbaric and outdated leadership practices.

The alternative? Your mail could be delvered if at all by a different person each day earning no bennies and perhaps only $10 per hour. Will you recieve a quality product each day? Most likely not.

I want content workers building high quality vehicles. A cheap labor force will not drive down the price of the car, it will only serve to bring in larger profits and bonuses for the 6-7 figure salary people.

Thanks for your indulgence.

Tim

 

db says it well. I didn't say everyone...and I don't mean to imply that. My father was in a union most of his life and my uncles and father-in-law as well. Most of them say the unions are too powerful. They served a purpose when they were created as dbtanker says but they have gotten too big. There is too much protection for people that are detrimental for the good of the company. YES they still provide some benefit but .... Just my .02
And yes I agree the bigwigs getting outrageous bonuses isn't helping the situation one bit!!!!

 

nowadays there are more jobseekers than there are jobs. so many stores are closing up, downsizing, laying people off, restructuring, whatever you want to call it. I had a job interview today, one job opening and there were in excess of 30 applicants. where is the american workforce supposed to go for a paycheck?

 

Come Alberta, its exactly the opposite, 30 jobs for every applicant it seems! Every week the local paper here has the classifieds jam packed with help wanted adds, its crazy!

 

I've tried to make that point many times to people who jump on the whole unions are bad bandwagon... toyota is basically another walmart. I don't mind buying my bread and 2 liter coke there, but I sure as hell wouldn't let those guys bolt on my brakes...