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Automaker's hourly workers must decide to stay or go as deadline nears
By Tom Krisher
Associated Press
Published on Friday, Mar 07, 2008
LIVONIA, MICH.: For Rick McDonald, the biggest gamble of his young life comes down to whether he believes Ford Motor Co. can turn itself around.
Part of him says it can. Another part wonders.
So at 38, the electrician at a transmission plant in the Detroit suburb of Livonia has to decide between staying and embedding his future with the wounded automaker or leaving under one of the buyout packages that Ford is offering as it tries to further pare its blue-collar work force.
''I bleed blue,'' McDonald said, referring to Ford's blue oval logo, which is among the assets the company has mortgaged to stay afloat. ''I want to be here.''
Yet the idea of a departure is tempting. Ford is offering 10 buyout and early retirement packages to thin its hourly ranks. It wants to shrink factory capacity to match its lower market share.
The company also is hoping that enough people leave so it can replace them with workers who make about half the $28 per hour that Ford now pays factory workers in the United Auto Workers union. The deadline is March 18.
Depending on seniority, workers could get $50,000 to $140,000 to leave the company, which has made the offers to all 54,000 of its UAW hourly workers. Ford says it's the last time the buyouts will be offered at all U.S. plants.
Ford once was considered the ultimate employer for blue-collar jobs with great money, benefits and hours — someplace you'd stay the rest of your life.
But Ford's fortunes have changed, losing $2.7 billion last year and $12.6 billion the year before. It mortgaged its assets to borrow up to $23.4 billion to pay bills and fund a turnaround plan, and it doesn't expect to make money again until next year.
Rudy Almaraz, 37, a production worker who lives in nearby Westland, has 10 years with the company and could get up to $100,000 to leave. But after taxes, he says, it would be about $65,000, less than he now makes in a year.
Production worker Ann Franklin of Harper Woods has 30 years with Ford, even though she's only 57. She can take an early retirement package and get $50,000, plus a full pension and health insurance, but she's still reluctant to sign up.
''I'm kind of thinking about it,'' she said. ''It's a scary thing. You're not sure.''
LIVONIA, MICH.: For Rick McDonald, the biggest gamble of his young life comes down to whether he believes Ford Motor Co. can turn itself around.
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