Ford Union Boss: "There Aren't Enough Jobs for Everybody"
It's a piercing glimpse into the obvious in a New York Times article without any major revelations, but it's still worth noting the human toll of Ford's shrinking market share and concomitant race to slice its labor costs. As former Detroit News writer Bill Vlasic correctly points out, "Ford’s big new push is not to sell cars. Instead, it is trying to sign up thousands of workers to take buyouts, partly by convincing them that their brightest future lies outside the company that long offered middle-class wages for blue-collar jobs." To that end, the Times embeds a happy-clappy video “Connecting With Your Future" that shows Ford's please-leave-now ex-employees that yes, Virginia, there is life after Ford. Ah, but is there life for Ford? In the middle of Vlasic's sugar coated pill run down, a quote from analyst John Casesa is like a shot to the solar plexus. "These companies are trying to do in the last 24 months what they should have done over the last 24 years,” the head of Casesa Shapiro Group says. “That’s why it’s such a shock to the system.” Just as sadly, it's come to this: "One thing Ford workers are proud of is that their buyout options are more extensive and, in some instances, better paying than those at G.M."
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Should've known it'd come down to this. "My package is bigger than yours!"
RobertSD, well said.
Wall Street rewards short term executive thinking. Investors don't give a damn about product quality, workers or corporate longevity. One or two sputters and their money is gone, invested elsewhere. Our business school trained MBAs don't think five or even three years ahead. Why would they? They will be long gone running a different company into the ground by then.