Buyouts Offered To Ford Employees

Ford Motor Co. will be offering buyouts or early retirement packages to its 75,000 hourly-paid employees. The offer will be available to said employees starting Oct. 16. Moreover, salaried workers are given more than one chance to accept a buyout. However, employees who are represented by the United Auto Workers union must have decided before Nov. 27. After said date, they can no longer claim the option to choose either one of eight buyout programs or stay on with Ford.

The programs to be offered by Ford comprise lump-sum payments of up to $140,000 as well as reimbursement of tuition besides the traditional early-retirement packages. The Dearborn-based automaker, which is famous for its best-selling Ford F-Series pickup parts and trucks, have started its educational workshops and career fairs. This is done to lend a hand to blue-collar workers in weighing available career options.

"We've put what we think is a very generous offer on the table," Martin Mulloy, Ford's vice president of labor relations, said Monday. "We want to make sure each employee has the best information available to make that decision."

Ford has earlier publicized its intention to cut approximately 30,000 hourly jobs and 14,000 salaried jobs by the end of 2008. Said cut will trim down Ford's total North American work force by 29 percent. From about 130,000, current work force, it will be reduced to about 92,000.

Mulloy refused to divulge the number of workers who are expected to take a buyout package. However, he said that the buyouts will take effect next year. Ford will begin with the briefing with employees on Tuesday. The briefing will be about their eligibility for a range of early retirement incentives. Mulloy also noted, "Most people will start leaving after the first of the year."

Those employees who will accept buyouts are expected to leave Ford by the end of September next year. This fact was announced to the media by Marcey Evans, spokeswoman of the automaker.