Paladin06

Ford to shed another 9,000 plant jobs
Filed under: Plants/Manufacturing, Ford, UAW/Unions
Over 2006 and 2007, Ford lost $15.3 billion. Over that same time and in light of those losses, the company also shed 33,600 union workers through buyouts and early retirement. Still working through the uphill part of the turnaround, Ford has announced it wants to eliminate another 8,000 to 9,000 factory jobs through buyouts.

If 8,000 workers end up leaving, that's almost 12 percent of Ford's current workforce walking out the door. They'll leave with benefits and a buyout that ranges from $50,000 to $70,000 depending on whether the position is a skilled trade. While it might seem like a lot of money, the point is that with the new labor agreement, Ford can hire new workers -- when the time comes -- for $26 to $31, instead of the $60-per-hour it pays now. The UAW figures the salary change could save Ford $1,000 per car.

Although 8,000 buyouts is Ford's target, the company is willing to accept more workers leaving. The offer has been extended to workers at four shuttered factories, and will be expanded next week to others. Those who don't want buyouts can be transferred to another factory. And if they don't accept the buyout or relocation, then they "will be placed on a 'no-pay, no-benefit leave,'" which sounds a lot less appealing than a 5-figure check.

[Source: Bloomberg]

1 Bad Mirada

60 dollars an hour...other than a welder, what position could possibly warrant that cost? thats ridiculous.

i know that the union guys get all pissed off when anyone suggests that their pay rates are responsible for..well...anything, but some on...a 50,000 - 70,000 buyout, depending on the level of skill. does that mean that there are fairly unskiller laborers who are going to get a 50,000 buyout?

ridiculous.

TechmanBD

Unions like that, in my opinion, promote a NON educated America. If you can get paid like that, why go get an education. They can make more money that scientists and doctors.

Though the movie Idiocracy was made as a comedy, I can really see what happens in that movie to really come true.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387808/

Albeeno

Not a good day for American automakers, particularly The General...

GM posts biggest annual US auto loss

By DEE-ANN DURBIN, AP Auto Writer
17 minutes ago

DETROIT - General Motors Corp. reported a $38.7 billion loss for 2007 on Tuesday, the largest annual loss ever for an automotive company, and said it is making a new round of buyout offers to U.S. hourly workers in hopes of replacing some of them with lower-paid help.

The earnings report and buyout offer came as GM struggles to turn around its North American business as the economy weakens.

But GM Chairman and Chief Executive Rick Wagoner said that the company made significant progress in 2007, reducing structural costs in North America, negotiating a historic labor agreement and growing aggressively in Latin America and Asia.

During a conference call with analysts and media, Chief Financial Officer Fritz Henderson said 2008 will be difficult, but the company sees the potential for significant earnings increases by 2010 or 2011 once it reduces its work force and labor costs and transfers its retiree health-care costs to a new UAW-run trust.

The Detroit-based automaker said it was offering a new round of buyouts to all 74,000 of its U.S. hourly workers who are represented by the United Auto Workers.

GM won't say how many workers it hopes to shed, but under its new contract with the UAW, it will be able to replace up to 16,000 workers doing non-assembly jobs with new employees who will be paid half the old wage of $28 per hour.

Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC already have announced similar buyout offers.

Henderson said GM's offer is "reasonably attractive," and the company raised the amount it was offering to match Ford and Chrysler. He said GM wants to implement lower wages as well as lower its overall worker headcount.

"We have a substantial amount we can do in terms of transformation of the work force," he said.

GM shares rose 44 cents to $27.56 in late morning trading.

GM's annual loss of $38.7 billion largely was due to a third-quarter charge related to unused tax credits.

The 2007 loss topped GM's previous record in 1992, when the company lost $23.4 billion because of a change in health care accounting, according to Standard & Poor's Compustat.

Excluding the tax charge and other special items, GM lost $23 million, or 40 cents per share, for the year, compared with a net income of $2.2 billion in 2006, beating Wall Street's expectations. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected GM to post a full-year loss of 95 cents per share.

For the fourth quarter, GM posted a loss of $722 million, or $1.28 per share, in the fourth quarter, compared with a net income of $950 million in the year-ago quarter. Fourth-quarter charges included $622 million to Delphi Corp., GM's former parts division, for its restructuring efforts, and a gain of $1.6 billion because of tax credits related to GM's pension liabilities and the sale of GM's Allison Transmission unit.

GM reported $181 billion in revenues for the year, down from $206 billion in 2006. Its automotive business saw record automotive revenues of $178 billion in 2007, up $7 billion from a year ago thanks to growth in emerging markets and favorable exchange rates.

GM was profitable in every region outside North America. GM's Latin America, Middle East and Africa division reported a record $1.3 billion in earnings, more than double that of 2006. GM's Asia Pacific division earned $744 million, up from $403 million in 2006, while GM Europe reported a profit of $55 million, down from a profit of $357 million in 2006.

But GM's North American division continued to struggle, posting a $1.5 billion loss for the year, nearly identical to its $1.6 billion loss in 2006. GM's North American division also reported a loss of $1.1 billion in the fourth quarter, compared with a loss of $129 million in the year-ago quarter.

Wagoner