Hourly Buyout Acceptances
Ford Motor Co
29 November 2006
NEWS
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FORD'S HOURLY BUYOUT ACCEPTANCES REACH 38,000 THIS YEAR
DEARBORN, Mich, Nov. 29, 2006 - As part of a key objective of its North American
turnaround plan, Ford Motor Company confirmed today that so far this year about
38,000 of its UAW-represented hourly workers have accepted package offerings for
voluntary separations from the company.
This figure includes approximately 30,000 buyout offers preliminarily accepted
during the recent system-wide open enrollment period that concluded this week
for Ford hourly workers, including those at the company's Automotive Components
Holdings (ACH) division. In addition, the figure includes about 8,000
acceptances received earlier in 2006 during targeted plant-by-plant buyout
offerings to Ford and ACH employees. Of the 38,000 total acceptances,
approximately 6,000 were by hourly employees at ACH. Ford began the year with
about 83,000 UAW-represented employees.
The open enrollment period that began in October offered eight different
voluntary buyout packages to all of Ford's UAW-represented employees. The offers
included traditional packages for retirement-eligible employees, as well as non-
traditional packages for employees with at least one year of service. Just over
half of the buyouts accepted during the recent open enrollment period were by
employees who accepted one of the non-traditional packages, which provided
options such as lump sum payments, tuition reimbursements or scholarship funds
for family members.
The acceptances are preliminary, as all buyout offers are voluntary and include
an employee's opportunity to rescind acceptance up until the time of their
separation from the company. The employee reductions will contribute toward
major objectives of the accelerated Way Forward plan for turning around the
company's North American operations. On Sept. 15, Ford announced its intention
to reduce its North American hourly workforce by 25,000 to 30,000 employees by
the end of 2008, including attrition and excluding employment reductions at ACH.
'One of Ford's priorities, and a large cost component of our Way Forward plan
for North America, is our ability to adjust manufacturing capacity with demand,
while continuing to reduce operating costs and becoming more efficient,' said
Alan Mulally, Ford president and CEO. 'While I know that in many cases decisions
to leave the company were difficult for our employees, the acceptances received
through this voluntary effort will help Ford to become more competitive.
'We'd also like to thank the UAW for working closely with us in developing
packages that will help employees to move productively into a new phase of their
lives. It is clear that we were successful in providing appropriate options;
this, in turn, is helping the company to meet its cost objectives.'
Hourly employees who accepted buyout packages during the recent enrollment
period will begin to leave the company in January 2007 and through the course of
the year until all separations are completed by Sept. 1, 2007.
'Ford and the UAW have addressed several important issues throughout the year,
which have allowed the company to reduce costs and achieve efficiencies,'
Mulally said. 'Though there is more work to be done, recent history demonstrates
that together we can significantly improve Ford's business.'
Ford Motor Company, a global automotive industry leader based in Dearborn,
Mich., manufactures or distributes automobiles in 200 markets across six
continents. With about 300,000 employees and more than 100 plants worldwide, the
company's core and affiliated automotive brands include Aston Martin, Ford,
Jaguar, Land Rover, Lincoln, Mazda, Mercury and Volvo. Its automotive-related
services include Ford Motor Credit Company. For more information regarding
Ford's products, please visit www.fordvehicles.com.
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange