Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Common Interests Ford: Black Monday Restructuring Speech

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060122/AUTO01/601220408

25,000 blue-collar jobs projected to be cut over 5-years
4,000 salaried jobs to be cut by April 1 '06
Layoffs beginning this week!


Nothing too new in this article, but we will find out the reaction to the "Way Forward" speech.

Quote:

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The plant closings and layoffs that Ford announces Monday will either require the approval of the UAW or have to wait until the current contract expires in 2007.

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And, of course, there's the rub.

It's a catch-22 for the Unions, isn't it? Protest the cuts and keep all of your members employed for the short-term yet endangering their long-term viability. Agree to the cuts and turn your back on a significant portion of your members all the while essentially admitting you're a failure to the rest. Have fun with this one, UAW.

Sad to hear of all the job loses that will happen. I hope and pray for those people that will be going through a tough time.

I don't feel sorry for the UAW at all. I blame them almost entirely for the current state of the US auto industry. I don't know where I read it but $3k/ vehicle goes toward paying for benefits that workers in a Toyota or Honda or Nissan plant (on US soil) don't get.
When I first talked to a Ford recruiter here a couple years ago he told me I'd be better off applying for a job as a janitor rather than an engineer, the janitors make more and have better benefits due to those being union positions.

I'm definitely looking forward to this "Way Forward" plan. The Press Release should be hitting any minute now.

Ford 4Q and 2005FY financials weren't that bad (and were in fact 25 times what analysts expected). Ford just continues to be earmarked along with GM as going down the drain. Something's not right when you're netting earnings of $1.04/share and your share price is only $8. Ford is looking up, but every step it takes it just gets quagmired by horrible contracts and extensive overhead costs, but it's going to come out of this in pretty good shape. Probably not this year, probably not even next year, but Ford will be just fine in a few years if it can get out from under some of its' factories and contracts.

Depending on the content of this new plan I'll probably up my holdings by at least a couple thousand shares. We'll see.

The UAW isn't entirely to blame for the straits that Ford is in today; a mindset change in the consumer has certainly hit them and GM hard (fewer people are buying their highest-margin products these days: SUVs), a ho-hum product set that seems targeted to the Oldsmobile/Buick buying demographic of the mid 90's has had younger buyers look elsewhere and of course, the constantly increasing perception that foreign makes/models are more reliabe is kicking every domestic car company in the nads. Look at how well most foreign models hold their resale value vs. their domestic counterparts and that should speak volumes to you.

I'm entirely looking foward to seeing the UAW take a beating on their part of this equation, but Ford's business practices also have a significant part to play here, too.

At least they've only used a shovel to dig the hole they are currently in, unlike GM, who has opted to use a backhoe...

Yeah, but the way I see it Ford/Gm/Diamler Chrysler would have a more competitive product for a comparable price if they didn't have the UAW monkey on there back. It's hard to build a competitive product in the same country with the same market when you start off 3K in the hole. Even if the 3k number isn't accurate, I'm willing to bet it's above 1.5K, that still makes it hard to compete. What would a base Focus be like if it were a 12k car selling for 12K as opposed to now where its a 9K - 10.5K car selling for 12K?

True, but you're banking that Ford would take that money saved and discount the cars down to that level instead of taking the additional profit...

Where's the benefit to the customer then?

Doesn't Ford already sell most of their product line at a lower price than what their foreign competition sells their competitive products at?

Ford sells their cars at a lower price because the market values it at a lower price.

The money saved if not for the exorbitant UAW contracts wouldn't go to lower the price. Lower prices have done nothing but persist the notion that domestics are 'cheaper' cars. People don't want cheap cars, they want good cars -- look at the success of the Camry for proof of that. The money saved would go towards better engineering, higher quality components, etc, etc, etc. Once the consumer got it back in their head that "Domestic" does not equal "Inferior" prices could come up, bringing margin with it.

I believe it was Lutz, ironically enough, that said "It's better to spend an extra $1,000 on quality than give the customer $2,000 to buy your car".

Unions have fcked this country. They were necessary for a period of time, but have since pushed all these US companies into near bankruptcy. Look at Levi's jeans...

Screw the UAW...