For personal and professional reasons, it gives me absolutely no pleasure to say that I saw this coming, and that it came sooner than I thought it would.
Here's the news, assembled from wire reports by the Cincinnati Enquirer, in an article that should be entitled "Ford to Workers: Go Away" (bolds are mine throughout) --
Ford Motor Co. will offer buyout and early retirement packages to 54,000 U.S. hourly workers, or 93 percent of its hourly work force, in an effort to cut costs and replace those leaving with lower-paid workers. Thursday's announcement came as Ford said it narrowed its losses in 2007 but warned that the outlook for U.S. sales in 2008 remains grim.
Story Continues Below Ad ↓Ford wouldn't say how many people it hopes will take the offer, but Chief Financial Officer Don Leclair said Ford has about 12,000 U.S. workers eligible for retirement, about 22 percent of its hourly work force.
Ford is offering eight different packages for employees, including a $50,000 lump-sum payment for non-skilled workers and a $70,000 lump-sum payment for skilled workers. That is sweeter than 2006, when non-skilled workers were offered $35,000.
..... The buyouts come in addition to a 2006 round of buyouts in which 33,600 U.S. hourly workers left the company. This time around, they could be replaced with lower-wage workers. Under Ford's new contract with the UAW, which was signed in November, Ford can pay new workers $14.20 per hour, or about half the wages of a current worker. Under the contract, up to 20 percent of Ford's U.S. hourly work force may be paid at the lower wages.
A Chicago Tribune report claims that buyout offers are being made to all hourly employees.
A Dow Jones Newswire report isolates the problem:
North American Losses Continue
Ford, since early 2006, has been trimming jobs and closing plants to match changing market demands, especially in North America where it reported a pre-tax loss of $1.6 billion for the fourth quarter, versus $2.7 billion a year earlier. The auto maker was profitable in all of its other regions.
It's going to take more work than I have time for now to get hard numbers together, but you can't help but think that the 778,000-plus who have signed the American Family Association's boycott pledge over the company's support of homosexual-activist publications and causes, along with AFA's 3.35 million members, 40-plus other boycott-supporting organizations, and likely 3-5 word-of-mouth sympathizers for every AFA member, have collectively been a factor contributing to Ford-North America's dire circumstances.
Yet Old Media continues to pretend that the boycott doesn't exist, even as Ford's sales have fallen far more than the other two Detroit-based carmakers during the almost two years of AFA's boycott. Ford's media pals have enabled the company to kid itself about the scope of the AFA problem, and to risk corporate suicide in the name of political correctness. For Ford hourly and salaried employees, a difficult day of reckoning has arrived.
Too bad the people who caused it aren't the ones paying the price. Normally, a situation such as this, which I believe is unprecedented in size and scope, would be expected to lead to the killing of hundreds of trees and the consumption of terabytes of bandwidth to accommodate press outrage over high CEO pay coupled with workforce reductions -- especially if a politically incorrect company were involved.
But for Ford, I'm supposed to believe all of this is just a bad break caused by bad market conditions.
Give me a break.
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
—Tom Blumer is president of a training and development company in Mason, Ohio, and is a contributing editor to NewsBusters















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Comments Policy
Ford
January 25, 2008 - 17:31 ET by ZmeademanMost of these jobs were classified as jobs bank positions .They sat in cafeterias collecting full salaries doing nothing, outclassed by robotics. Unions kept them on payrolls as collective barganing,Ford grabbed their ankles.NO suprise, Henry must be rolling in his grave again.
outclassed by
January 25, 2008 - 18:06 ET by dscottoutclassed by robotics
Tom, I know the focus of your story is the boycott, but I think it is also important to point out the role of automation since the Dems and others claim the government needs to do something about the dwindling number of autoworkers. The truth is we still produce the same number of cars in the US as ten years ago but with FAR LESS workers due to automation. Government can not bring a solution to this kind of job loss. Unless we want to start passing laws about the level of automation.
Similarly, we need to point out that while the number of manufacturing jobs have dropped in this country, the number of goods and their value have increased, not decreased. No one can blame China for taking jobs. Again this is all due to automation. The cultprit is productivity, so unless you outlaw productivity gains, you will always have a job loss if all things are equal. A three percent annual productivity gain over 24 years will result in a 50% reduction in the workforce.
Jack up the price of labor and business will find ways to increase productivity, hence job loss.
Hanlon's Razor: Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity. dscott's corollary: The line between malice and stupidity is called depraved indifference.
I hope the jobs bank is the
January 25, 2008 - 18:22 ET by Roger the ShrubberI hope the jobs bank is the first to go. Those guys will have to fill out crossword puzzles on their own time. Unions rock!
The boycott may be a big
January 25, 2008 - 17:53 ET by mattmThe boycott may be a big reason for this, at least enough to receive mention...which would most certainly have been the case if GLAAD was doing the boycotting, but there must be more to it.
The way we have demonized "Big Business" and have hamstrung vital industries with confiscatory regulations and unattainable standards, etc., all for dubious reasons, has made things like this inevitable.
I see more of this, if the Algores and McCains keep getting their way...
BTW: What good is union membership if the UAW is settling for half?
Why Did GM do it
January 25, 2008 - 18:13 ET by jarednt1I am just wondering why GM did the exact same thing this week. The reason the American car companies are taking in the shorts is not because of a Boycott. Its because of the Unions and by Americans and sadly many members of this site who are under the false impression Toyotas and Hondas are somehow better cars.
Not a false impression. . .
January 25, 2008 - 18:51 ET by WingletDriverI own a 2001 Toyota and a 2003 Chevy. Wanna guess which one has cost me more in maintenance?
Sorry, but Toyota and Honda are much more reliable. If you don't believe me, check out Consumer Reports. (Sorry, the little link thingy isn't working, so I'll cop/paste the hyperlink). http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/cars/used-cars/buying-advice/used-cars-best-and-worst-406/index.htm
Not sure I'd throw Consumer
January 25, 2008 - 21:42 ET by Gary P JacksonNot sure I'd throw Consumer Reports around as the end all be all. It was bad enough they let a disgruntled Chrysler employee write less than glowing reports about Chrysler products. CR also wrote false stories hyping small SUV roll over statistics. Think NBC and exploding Chevy trucks!
Now I agree Toyota and to a lessor degree Honda make good cars, but they do not hold the patent on that!
I'm sure the boycott is not helping Ford at all, but unions and plain old American know how, have a lot more to do with it. Never forget it was Henry Ford, in an effort to bring labor costs, and ultimately vehicle costs down, who brought the assembly line to automobile making. Henry was a lib through and through, but he would have marveled at the automation.
It aught to say something that Toyota, Honda, and others are building new plants and hiring people in right to work states left and right. My town will have a new processing plant built in the next couple of years to process Toyotas. No unions here. Just a bunch of a good workers, and fine railway system.
Then show me a source. . .
January 26, 2008 - 12:49 ET by WingletDriverthat says American cars are as reliable.
→ Gary P
January 26, 2008 - 12:52 ET by Cool ArrowSan Antonio and Texas are proud of their Toyota Plant. Viva la Tundra.
♣ a seal
Consumers Reports Bias
January 26, 2008 - 12:17 ET by mikebromoConsumers Report rated a Mazda car above average and a Ford car just average. Both vehicles were assembled on the same line with same materials. Only difference was shape of tail lights and nameplate!
I tell readers of CR that their engineers could not get a job anywhere else.
The ratings are based upon
January 26, 2008 - 13:02 ET by WingletDriverThe ratings are based upon more than a million returned surveys, not on engineering data. You can argue about survey errors. However, it is through surveys that the auto industry tracks reliablity.
I don't know why Mazda did better than Ford. Maybe it's just regression to the mean. But Ford, GM, Dodge, et al., never argue with CR's findings.
Hondas and Toyotas and others...
January 25, 2008 - 18:54 ET by LionKingMany of these cars are actually made right here in the US. [Non-union labor.]
btw, I do think the boycott of Ford has hurt them financially.
The writing on the wall...
January 25, 2008 - 18:22 ET by Rackie" ...and replace those leaving with lower-paid workers."
cartel solicitando personal
EvilCon555 Ford is just
January 25, 2008 - 19:08 ET by EvilCon555EvilCon555
Ford is just the first in a long line of organized companies that will fail globally. And as sure as I am typing at my computer is the fact that the union influence has done more to corrupt the capitalist way than the capitalist way itself.
Why in the world would the union buy into this buy-out unless the entity itself will gain? As a representative of the worker, the auto worker's union has reaped what is has sown....an environment that favors the lower paid worker. While the capitalist credo is one that says "you can do it!", the union says "you can't succeed without a representative, you are weak, and you must bite the hand that feeds you." How very sad that unions have come to be the thing that they were invented to beat.
"Nothing can be more surely established than that a Government which interferes with any trade injures that trade" Walter Bagehot 1873. (Walter was on to something...)
The effects of the AFA boycott are obvious
January 25, 2008 - 20:22 ET by c5thenThe boycott is a big reason why Ford is doing worse than the other US auto companies. I wonder if the execs and union "leadership" will continue to cowtow to the homosexual activists and run the company so far into the red that it is eventually bought by one of the Japanese auto companies?
Ofcourse, the MSM, who are heavily infiltrated by homosexual activists, can not in any way admit that this boycott is even going on, let alone being effective. Therefore it must be ignored completely.
But, don't worry. With the almost 800,000 who have signed the boycott pledge and the 3.5 million membares of the AFA, there are millions and millions who already know about it and are spreading the word. It's humorous to watch the MSM try and ignore such a HUGE story because it is against their ideology.
The day that "politician" became a career choice is the day we started losing the Republic. Let's get it back! Alan Keyes '08.
And upon further review...
January 25, 2008 - 21:25 ET by goldenthroatc5then,
I totally agree and may I add that the AFA boycott of Fix Or Repair Daily and the their woes are just too coincidental to be coincidental. They dig in their heels and blow off their support of the homosexual agenda as if it were no big deal when, in reality, it's destroying the very foundation of the company and it's workers. But when did liberals ever live in reality?
I signed on to the boycott myself and have no plans to ever have a Found On Road Dead in my driveway in the future.
"Yeah! That's the ticket!" - Tommy Flanagan
What Computer OS do you use?
January 25, 2008 - 21:58 ET by jarednt1What computer OS do you use?
BS !!
January 26, 2008 - 10:22 ET by RonC"..boycott of Fix Or Repair Daily"
An FYI... I have never owned a vehicle made in any other country but the US
- and I never will. I don't give a damn how good other people believe
they are, I believe in supporting American industries and American products whenever possible, and not that of other nations.
I drive a lot - average over 40,000 per year, and have done so for over 42
years - much of that is hard driving on brutal mountain roads. I've
rebuilt the engines and transmissions of many of my own cars to extend their
service life - work done by myself in my own home garage. (I've rebuilt engines
for several friends as well.)
From 1965 (a Bel-Air) through 1988 (two Caprice Classic's) I went through
three Chevy full-size sedans - with the worse constant part and system failures
ever experienced with the last two.
From 1989 to the present I've owned four full-size Ford products, three
Crown Vic's and one Mercury Grand Marquis - I've experienced virtually zero
mechanical problems with the Fords and the Mercury - the single exception was
replacement of a power steering hose on the 1989 Ford Crown Vic. Three of
these four vehicles were driven over 190,000 miles with no system or part failure of any kind whatsoever. BTW, the engine in the Crown Vic was
dubbed the 'million mile engine' because they went that far (and over, via
three rebuilds) for taxi companies and police departments. My old 94 (son
owns now) could well become another million-miler.
Once a 'Chevy man' - I found the old fix-or-repair-daily far more aptly
applied to the Chevy's I owned, and in no way has applied to the Ford products
I'm still driving.
One other item of note - the owner of my Chevy dealership was, and still is
a virtually incoherent Democrat. The owner of my Ford dealership (the
largest in the nation, and by far, sells the most cars) is a very conservative
Republican - who has personally treated me to the best deals imaginable, and
has for years been one of the best allies political conservatism has ever
had.
Incidentally, the 'boycott' didn't stop me from going to him - and it has
not hurt his business in any fashion observable - he's broken all sales records
this past year. However, that does not mean that he supports the idiots
at Ford headquarters - or their nefarious ways, in any way whatsoever. To
the contrary, he goes all-out to support conservatism, giving mightily of his
time and substance to combat the very policies pushed by Ford... a fact not
lost on thousands of conservatives who support his efforts, and still quite
happily buy from his dealership.
Now about that idiot (because that is what he is) that began the boycott... did he think about the people like my dealer friend, or his many employees, or this dealership-owner's decades-long heavy giving to promote Christian conservatism? No... because idiots rarely think far beyond their own conceit.
Ron C
January 26, 2008 - 10:44 ET by botgwhat no Lincoln?
Supreme Court, National Security, Borders, Fiscal Restraint, my litmus test for President.
AFA
January 26, 2008 - 12:25 ET by mikebromoI've had a F-150 for 10 years. No problems at all.
I wonder how many AFA members that work for Ford have lost their jobs.
I boyctt boycotts, and buy anything that the bigots at AFA boycott!
I have a F-150 truck as well
January 27, 2008 - 11:49 ET by dscottI have a F-150 truck as well just as my dad before me (F-100). How does not buying a product make one a bigot? I only buy Ford pickups, does that make me bigoted against the Japanese for not buying the Tundra? More importantly, since when does a moral objection to behavior rise to the level of bigotry? Bigotry has to do with something you can not change about yourself like gender, color or national origin. Homosexuality is a behavior, therefore a choice. Everyone has the proclivity to sin, however, sinning is still a choice. The failure to rise above ones lower passions doesn't justify allowing yourself to succomb to them, much less condemn other people for not approving or condoning of such behavior. "Nature, Mr. Allnut, is what we are put into this world to rise above." Katherine Hepburn in The African Queen.
Hanlon's Razor: Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity. dscott's corollary: The line between malice and stupidity is called depraved indifference.
Ford's Hiring would favor Ron Paul Truthers
January 25, 2008 - 21:57 ET by Lame CherryIn examining the Ford Foundation's projects in Mexico exposing the evil American invasions coupled with their love affair with homosexuals over actually turning a profit...........it should be a conclusion that Ford will be hiring Ron Paul supporters
Ron Paul detests America involved in other nations like Iraq. His supporters see a conspiracy under every 9 11 tower. Mexicans like marching around creating chaos like Paul supporters show up everywhere creating anarchy.............
So Ford must be looking for a combination of homosexual, Mexican, anarchist, Ron Paul supporters as they are currently firing white and black Americans who are straight, love America and are no voting for Ron Paul.
Brilliant idea Ford. Fire skilled workers and replace them with illiterate dolts.
If people think Ford's are junk now just wait until Ford starts turning out the Ron Paulmobile. A green mobile that only runs on fumes in oil supply is cut off.......but have no fear it is sodomite friendly and while it does not have an owner's manual there is a Che manual telling everyone how evil America is and to buy used bulk silver and not trust in God.
I will miss Ford. I loved their little 289.
*HIC IACET ARTORIVS REX QVONDAM REXQVE FVTVRVS
The Ford Foundation
January 26, 2008 - 10:29 ET by jarednt1The Ford Foundation has nothing to do with the company anymore, go check your facts. The Company has a new foundation called the Ford Motor Company Foundation.
If you go to the Ford foundation webpage, you will see not one Ford is even on the board.
I think the last Ford family
January 26, 2008 - 12:43 ET by Roger the ShrubberI think the last Ford family member left in the 1970's because of the ever-leftward leanings of the foundation. I agree: the Ford Foundation had been hijacked.
To give you a clue about
January 26, 2008 - 02:18 ET by Gary P JacksonTo give you a clue about Ford Mustangs, a 2008 Shelby King of the Road (KR), brought $550,000 for Juvenile Diabetes. (Edsel Ford's charity) at the Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Auction. The winner also got a matching custom Gibson guitar as well as some face time with Carroll Shelby.
Number 1300 in the docket.
http://www.barrett-j...
→ Gary
January 26, 2008 - 10:49 ET by Cool ArrowDoes the 2008 Ford Mustang qualify as "American Made"?
♣ a seal
Yes
January 26, 2008 - 16:29 ET by jarednt1The car is made in the United States? How does that not qualify as american made?
→ American Mustang
January 26, 2008 - 17:09 ET by Cool ArrowJust checking.
♣ a seal
I don't know if the Ford
January 26, 2008 - 03:06 ET by jdhawkI don't know if the Ford management actions are conincidental or incidental to the boycott.
I do know that there is a concerted effort on the part of militant gays to reduce or eliminate anything that may cast them in a bad light.
A case in point is the MRSA controversy. Scientist are saying that the incidence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus or MRSA is due to the high risk behaviors of the "gay" life style.
At first this story saw the light of day. Next, it was spiked and the original stories were apologized for having been run. Here is the link for the complete story: http://www.townhall.com/columnists/MattBarber/2008/01/24/mrsa_outbreak_among_gays-_let_the_whitewash_begin?page=full&comments=true.