Ford workers accept buyout package to help troubled company

As part of a key objective of its North American turnaround plan, Ford Motor Company confirmed that 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, 2006, 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.