DEARBORN, Mich. — Ford, seeking a second round of givebacks from the United Auto Workers union, plans to hire new workers in 2010, possibly putting the automaker at a labor-cost disadvantage to U.S. competitors.
“We expect to hire entry-level people in the second half of next year — not a big number but in specific locations,” Joe Hinrichs, group vice president of global manufacturing and labor affairs, said Wednesday in Dearborn.
The UAW earlier this year granted General Motors and Chrysler a six- year freeze on wages for new workers, among concessions as those two automakers were pushed into bankruptcy reorganization. Ford is meeting with union resistance as it tries to negotiate similar givebacks.
Under current contracts with all three automakers, new workers can be paid $14 an hour, about half what UAW members in place before those agreements receive. For Ford, those initial pay rates can escalate while staying the same at GM and Chrysler under the freeze. With GM and Chrysler, the union also accepted a no-strike accord until 2015 and fewer job categories. Bloomberg News
