Ford Motor Company announced that so far this year about 38,000 of its UAW-represented hourly workers have accepted package offerings for voluntary separations from the company.
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Download NowFord began the year with about 83,000 UAW-represented employees.
The company says approximately 30,000 workers accepted buyout offers during the recent system-wide open enrollment period that concluded this week for Ford hourly workers. The company says about 8,000 workers accepted a buyout offer earlier in 2006 during targeted plant-by-plant buyout offerings. Of the 38,000 total acceptances, approximately 6,000 were by hourly employees at the company's Automotive Components Holdings (ACH) division.
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. On September 15, 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.
"While I know that in many cases decisions to leave the company were difficult for our employees, the acceptances received through this voluntary effort will help Ford to become more competitive," says Alan Mulally, Ford president and CEO.
Hourly employees who accepted buyout packages during the recent enrollment period will begin to leave the company in January 2007 and through the course of the year until all separations are completed by September 1, 2007, the company says.