Ford seeks to end role as Detroit's most generous automaker - NorthJersey.com
Ford Motor Co. , beset by the highest U. S. labor costs in the industry, is seeking to use contract talks this summer to ease the burden. GM and Fiat Chrysler have had an advantage, dating back to bankruptcies in 2009, that lets both automakers hire lower-wage workers in unlimited numbers. Ford, by contrast, has had to give 48 percent raises to more than 800 factory employees this year. Ford gets a chance to remedy the imbalance as it opens talks with the United Auto Workers on a replacement for the four-year contract that expires Sept. Ford has complained that its labor costs have ballooned above those of its domestic competitors because it isn't subject to the same terms in a wage system that has enabled the Detroit Three to hire 39,150 workers in the last four years. Ford's plan is to take the lead in contract talks and set the pattern for UAW wages and benefits for General Motors Co. and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV. "We feel ready," Bill Dirksen, Ford's vice president of labor relations, said last month. For the first time in more than a decade, the U. S. automakers and their union enter contract negotiations this month that are not under a cloud of economic disaster. Ford ended up with Detroit's most expensive labor contract because it didn't seek bankruptcy protection back in 2009 like GM and Chrysler. Source: www.northjersey.com
