Dearborn, Mich. – Moving to speed and possibly expand its plan to slash 30,000 jobs from its manufacturing payroll, Ford Motor Co. will offer retirement incentives and buyout packages of as much as $140,000 to all employees at its U.S. factories.
More than 75,000 blue-collar workers are eligible for the programs, disclosed Thursday by the United Auto Workers union and acknowledged by Ford.
The offer is similar to a retirement and buyout plan offered this year by General Motors Corp. and accepted by 34,000 of its 135,000 union workers.
Separately, two top Ford executives, both manufacturing specialists, quit Thursday, a week after the automaker hired manufacturing ace Alan Mulally, 61, from Boeing Co. as chief executive.
One of the departing managers, Anne Stevens, chief operating officer of Ford’s Americas unit and a co-author of the company’s 8-month-old Way Forward turnaround plan, was one of the highest-ranking women in the auto industry. Also leaving is Dave Szczupak, group vice president of manufacturing for the Americas unit.
“It’s change or die at Ford,” said David Cole, head of the nonprofit Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich. “What we’ll be seeing now is Way Forward on steroids.”
Ford, scheduled to unveil details this morning of a revised rescue plan for its shrinking and money-losing North American automotive operation, acknowledged the all-inclusive job-cutting program Thursday but did not provide details.
The union, however, posted a synopsis on its website. The document said Ford wanted workers who accepted the offers to leave the company by Sept. 1, 2007.
Previously, Ford offered limited buyouts to workers at selected plants and set 2012 as the deadline for achieving its goals.
Cole predicted that 30,000 or more workers would take advantage of Ford’s retirement and buyout plans. But analyst Craig Hutson of GimmeCredit in New York put the likely number at 20,000 – about one-fourth of its payroll.
Ford has lost $1.4 billion in the first half this year and is expected to lose far more in the second half from declining sales and charges for its restructuring. A report Thursday in the Detroit News said Ford losses could hit $9 billion.
The automaker recently said it would slash production by 21 percent in the fourth quarter because of sagging sales of its large sport utility vehicles and pickups and that it is under pressure from analysts and investors to speed and expand its recovery efforts.
In a statement on the UAW’s website, union president Ron Gettelfinger said members were “stepping up to make hard choices under difficult circumstances. … Now, it’s Ford Motor Co.’s responsibility to lead this company in a positive direction.”
According to the UAW document, Ford will offer a half-dozen programs, with cash payments to departing workers of $65,000 to $140,000.
Labor specialists were divided over the value of the program.
It’s a lose-lose scenario for stockholders, said management consultant Bill Adams of Adams, Nash, Haskell & Sheridan in Cincinnati. “You are going to give away all this money and hope to put yourself in a position to survive, but there is a limit to how long you can.”
