Ford: Modest Production, More Merit Pay

Ford will be taking a conservative approach to 2010, according to Chairman Bill Ford, who tells Automotive News [sub] that unemployment makes him most pessimistic about the year to come.

We’re not planning for a huge pickup next year. If we get one, great, we’ll ride it. We’re planning conservatively. Just as we did this year, we’ve kept our inventories low. If things start to pop for the better, we’ll adjust our production upward and go that way

And why not? Ford’s stock price has soared over the last year, since falling under $2 a year ago. This despite the fact that the Blue Oval is mortgaged to the hilt and will miss profitability for 2009. But because Ford believes that, as President of the Americas Mark Fields puts it, “our plan is working,” the bonuses are coming back for Ford’s white-collar employees.

According to the Detroit News, tuition assistance, 401k matching and merit pay increases are all being reinstated for Ford’s white-collar employees. These perks were suspended over the last 18 months, as Ford turned record losses, and the Detroit-based auto industry plunged into turmoil. “We had committed to employees to reinstate them when business conditions allowed, and they have improved to the point that we can restore these benefits,” say Ford spokesfolks. Too bad the results in question amount to two quarters of operating profit in a year that will still end up in the loss column.

Meanwhile, the reinstated bonuses seem to vindicate the UAW rank-and-file rejection of proposed concessions to Ford. Sure, the UAW gave up its decades-long tradition of platform bargaining by refusing Ford parity with GM and Chrysler, but if things are good enough in Dearborn for mass reinstatement of perks, they’re probably good enough to reject no-strike clauses.