Chief Executive Alan Mulally said the new round of buyouts was negotiated with the United Auto Workers union. In addition, Ford plans to continue to reduce its salaried work force this year, mostly through attrition.
Mulally said the first round of buyouts would be offered immediately to hourly workers who had been employed at already closed plants in Atlanta, St. Louis, Edison, N.J., and Norfolk, Va. Those offers close Feb. 28.
Employees are expected to leave the company by March 1, Mulally said during a conference call with reporters and industry analysts to discuss the company's 2007 earnings. Although the plants have been closed, some workers continue to get salary and benefits under the job protection provisions of the company's contract with UAW.
A message seeking comment was left with a UAW spokesman.
The second round of buyouts would go to workers at all other U.S. Ford locations, opening the week of Feb. 18 and closing March 17. Mulally said workers who take packages in this round would likely leave the company starting April 1, with all of them gone by year's end.
The company said it has reduced its total U.S. hourly work force by 35,500 since the end of 2005. Ford said it had 99,500 at the end of 2005, and that figure dropped to 64,000 by the end of last year.
Chief Financial Officer Don Leclair said the company will continue to reduce its salaried work force in 2008 "primarily through attrition." The company said the number of full-time salaried workers already has been cut by 10,800 since the end of 2005, from 34,500 to 23,700 at the end of last year.
Ford also said its straight-time auto assembly capacity has been reduced from 3.6 million vehicles in the fourth quarter of 2005 to 2.9 million in the same quarter of last year, due largely to personnel reductions.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2008/1/206141