Ford Rolling Over To Union On Tuition Assistance
Published: May 13th, 2010
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With talk of a 2010 profit breaking out at Ford’s annual shareholder’s meeting, the UAW’s criticism of the Blue Oval’s decision to restore merit pay to white-collar workers is gaining some traction. UAW boss-in-waiting Bob King laid into Ford yesterday, arguing that the union’s sacrifices entitled it to a bigger piece of Ford’s success. As a result, Nasdaq reports that Ford is in talks to restore tuition assistance to its 41k hourly, UAW-represented workers. [UPDATE: Automotive News [sub] reports the deal is done]
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"arguing that the union’s sacrifices entitled it to a bigger piece of Ford’s success." Absolutely.
That's quite an interesting little photo of Henry Ford's union-busting thug Harry Bennett, Ford himself, and John Corlisle. I can't imagine Bennett thinking very highly of Ford's Camp Legion project to train disabled vets (which Corlisle ran). I'm no fan of the present-day UAW, but if there was ever a poster child for the necessity of labor unions in the US, it's Harry Bennett.
As Ford begins to recover, it shares a little of the upside with the people who actually build the products it sells. Oh, the horror! I must have missed the article wherein TTAC bashed Ford's restoration of white collar merit pay increases. Also, you might want to read any of the numerous excellent historical treatments of Harry Bennett's reign of terror @ Ford in the bad old days. History has not proven that Unions = Bad Car Companies. All of the German auto makers are heavily unionized, and Union reps sit on the board of directors there. Hyundai is heavily unionized @ home as well.
By not taking bailouts, not many of us have a leg to stand on for critiquing what has been so far quite a turnaround, at least in the public perception. It's that same perception that has innoculated Toyota from dramatically reduced sales. Perception is reality. To see the union handle Ford differently than GM or Chrysler is not surprising. Many of us have come to expect the UAW to behave in this manner. There's not much hate for the white collar workers, as the perception is that they're rewarded (for the most part, except those in very upper management and the C-suite) based on performance instead of a contract binding Ford to pay them a certain salary regardless if they're good at their job or not.