Ford workers agree to cost cutting

By Matt Brogan | March 10th, 2009

Ford workers in the US have agreed to a deal that will save the struggling car maker billions of dollars in health care costs.

The deal allows Ford to cut labour costs and meet up to 50 per cent of its $13.2 billion ($20.6 billion AUD) obligation to a trust fund for retiree health care benefits with common stock instead of cash.

While Ford has repeatedly said it has enough cash to survive the downturn without Government aid, it has used the deep recession in the industry to seek concessions from the union.

Ford welcomed the deal, which it said would help it survive falling car sales amid the current economic downturn and assist it in becoming more competitive in the long-term.

CB

And what about when things pick up? The Auto Unions won’t be so cooperative then…
Falcodore

Its about time the workers realised that if they still want to have a job, they’ve got to make some sacrifices in this climate.
adam (aka mada)

Worry about that when the market does pick up.

If they don’t agree to cost cutting, they simply won’t have a job.

Not much choice, the death of the whole company or compromises to save your own job along with thousands of others.
Tack

Wow !!!
What is the name of car in this article picture?
It looks like Lexus LS front.

I agree with Adam.
He wrote what I think…
omgwot

I believe it’s our next falcon
Other wise known as the FWD Taurus
Geni

OMGwot, unless its the AWD SHO version. Good for Ford, who unlike GM and Chrysler, don’t wait until they are on life support before trying to become financially viable.
Glen

Omgwot in case you havent heard Ford Oz announced the Geelong engine plant will be staying open beyond 2010 and will continue to build the inline 6. Since the inline 6 can only used in RWD or AWD configurations, the next Falcon WILL be RWD and NOT the Taurus.
JEKYL & HYDE

unless the ford engine plant becomes and next bonds/king gee/berlei plant…
Frontman

J&H the engine plant is safe till at least 2013. By then Mullaly and co will have had a chance to decide upon keeping or ditching Falcon. Currently, whilst it owes Ford nothing in real dollar terms they are happy to leave it alone and concentrate on getting ’1Ford’ up and running properly.
Remember it was the next Pacific Brands candidate till we got an Austrlain back to the helm. MB loves Geelong (he started there remember) so he is fitting tooth and nail to keep it. Something that could never be said about the americans before him.
As to the concessions by the UAW, it is refreshing to see a once “Bull” union waking up and smelling the roses. Congratulations to all involved on reaching a sensible outcome.
http://skyline The Salesman

See news like this is what we need to see on TV and hear on radio. All the negativity surrounding the so called credit crunch is fuelled by bad press. Can’t manufactures counter act it with good news? Headline. Ford makes new agreement to save jobs. My point is their is plenty of good news out there too. No one ever reports the good planes landing………………
Voice of Reason

Something that GM wokers should have done a long time ago…
Phil C.

Yeah, it was a sensible agreement for both UAW & Ford.

As for the straight 6 that powers the Falcon, the engine will be around to at least 2013 as confirmed last week.

In an unusual turn of events, the Albury based supplier of the 4spd auto fitted to the E-Gas Falcons had an administrator appointed and from this recieved 18 expressions of interest. 5 of them are being evaluated. From all this interest, it now appears that other overseas companies want the I6 exported for them to use!

NB Add Falcon, wagon, ute and Territory sales and they outsell the Commodore, LWB & Ute models (Feb 2009). Holden exports have dropped from 5000 per month to just 1000 in the last few months.
Wheelnut

Maybe the American Autoworkers have finally realised that its better to take a 10-20% pay cut and still have a job than it is to have no job at all..

I agree that its what GM should be trying to do and get the UAW to agree to a similar deal..

Mind you I wouldn’t be surprised if the new Obama administration forces trhe UWA to accept a paycut or forego the health care package etc – given the Bush [Snr] administration made the Car companies agree to the UAWs health care package back in the late early 90s in order to end a strike

BTW – The car in the picture above is the [AWD] SVO Taurus.. Ive seen the same pic on other sites and the SVO version has alightly different sportier looking airdam etc compared to regular FWD .models
Andrew M

Thats right Phill.
The I6 is confirmed till 2013 and penciled in till 2016.

with the passionate MB at the helm and the overseas demand for the I6, one would expect to see the I6 live on for a while yet, and rightly so.

Whens the upgraded E-Gas coming?????
was menat to be start of this year……
Spitfire

Overseas demand for the I6. From where overseas Andrew M?
Andrew M

Spitfire,
Ford are not saying exactlly which manufacturers are showing interest.
they are not naming names
Andrew M

Here is an extract for you Spitfire………

Ford Australia president Marin Burela said the Geelong-made inline-six (I6) engine was secure for the medium-term, and that the outlook for the operation had been strengthened by approaches from manufacturers who wanted to use the engine.

“We are getting all sorts of interest from different sectors on whether or not we would be prepared to sell them some engines, for different applications,” he said. “They want to know would we be willing to sell them some I6 engines.

“That’s a different angle on the Geelong engine plant story.”

Mr Burela would not say which companies were making the enquiries or what sort of vehicle they would be used in. “There are different groups around the world. I don’t want to talk volumes.”

The Ford chief said negotiations were in the early stages, but there was strong interest – “it’s really encouraging”.

He said that even without any export orders, the engine would “probably” be kept in service until 2015 or 2016, although a decision will be made earlier than that.
realcars

Falcon, The Great Australian Road Car.
omgwot

Glen, yes I’m aware that the plant will remain open past 2010 but for how long? I was under the impression that was done as it was to expensive to re engineer the current FG to the imported V6 therefore allowing the plant to stay open till the FG model cycle ends and then what happens?
I hope we keep our Aussie big RWD cars (well the Falcon anyway, as for the Commodore meh not a car I would buy)
john a

omgwot,if we loose falcon we loose commodore or vice versa,the whole supply industrie will die if we loose one of the 3 manafactures we have left.so no matter what you like lets hope we dont loose any and that includes (yuk)toyota
Roddy

Falcon, The Great Australian Taxi.
Glen

Roddy there’s a reason Falcon is the preferred TAXI, I fail to see why its a bad thing. You cant kill the bottom end in the inline 6. omgwot, would be safe to bet the FG was designed to be adapted to the V6 considering the announcement about the V6 was 12 months before the FG was released. The reason the inline 6 was going to be stopped was cos it was going to cost too much to bring to euroIV emission standards, now they have found a way.
Dan

“Roddy there’s a reason Falcon is the preferred TAXI”

They’re cheap to fix and maintain. And they’re cheap to buy. Lots are bought as 2 year old + at auctions, after they’re worth less than half the new purchase price.
Bavarian Missile (.)(.)

Having owned a workshop for 10 years we use to fix most of the Taxis in Hobart , drivers drove them because of reliability and fuel economy.
Andrew M

I was told by a taxi owner that they love the falcons because they are reliable, and if something does go wrong, then they are cheap to fix.

I was told you just need to keep a spare tranny and diff in the shed and they will last forever.

And also as BM says in that the I6 runs well on the LPG (well sort of what she said)