Gary Jones, president UAW International, (left) and Bill Ford, executive chairman, Ford Motor Company, shake hands today at Ford World Headquarters to begin negotiations for the 2019 contract.Sam Varnhagen / Ford Ford has relatively quickly reached a tentative agreement with the United Auto Workers Union (UAW) in the United States, drawing a sharp contrast to the unions six-week strike at General Motors over contract bargaining there.In a statement, Ford said it has put together a proposed tentative agreement on a four-year contract with the union, but would not release any details. The UAW has 55,000 union members at Ford that must vote and ratify the deal before it takes effect.Ford and the union had been in preliminary talks prior to and during the GM strike, which ended last Saturday and is estimated to have cost that automaker about US$2.9 billion. Like other automakers, Ford faces an overall decline in U.S. and Canadian sales, as well as pressure to invest in autonomous technologies for cars that are still well in the future. In discussing its third-quarter 2019 earnings, Ford said it is also facing fourth-quarter headwinds of higher warranty costs, North American incentives that will be more generous than expected, and a drop in sales volumes in China. Uncertainties over commodities, tariffs and currency exchange could also affect its bottom line.In Canada, Ford will cut some 450 workers at its plant in Oakville, Ontario, its second round of layoffs at the facility this year. The latest cutbacks are blamed on the decision to end production of the Ford Flex and Lincoln MKT, which are built at the Oakville plant. The workers are expected to be laid off early next year.Ford previously announced it will concentrate on trucks and SUVs rather than cars, and will soon be unveiling a new F-150, Super Duty and Bronco. It will keep the Mustang, of course, and is promising an innovative, Mustang-inspired battery-electric vehicle as well.Once the UAW votes on the Ford contract, it will move on to talks with Fiat Chrysler (FCA), although the automaker’s recent plan to merge with Europe’s PSA Group could disrupt what might otherwise have been equally-smooth
Origin: Ford comes to quick agreement with U.S. workers’ union
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U.S. workers’ union starts first strike against GM in 12 years
Members of the United Auto Workers (UAW) who are employed at the General Motors Flint Assembly plant in Flint, Michigan, slow down salary employees entering the plant as they strike early on September 16, 2019.Jeff Kowalsky / AFP via Getty The United Auto Workers union is leading its first strike against General Motors in 12 years, digging in for a fight over jobs and benefits that could cost the carmaker dearly.The strike that took effect at midnight may cost GM about US$50 million a day in earnings before interest and taxes due to lost production, Dan Levy, an analyst at Credit Suisse, said Sunday.While GM touted an offer to invest in plants across the U.S. and boost wages and benefits, UAW leadership has been rocked by a corruption scandal and needs to show willingness to bring the fight to an automaker thats been scaling back its workforce.The union is playing some hardball. It seems they are pretty far apart, said Kristin Dziczek, vice-president of the labor and economics group at the Center for Automotive Research. GMs offer still doesnt address some of the unions demands.GM has offered US$7 billion of investment in eight U.S. plants and more than 5,400 additional jobs, most of which would be new hires. But the union said GMs proposal fell short in key areas including health care, use of temporary workers and the length of time it takes for shorter-tenured members to get to top-scale pay.The union is seeking pay raises for entry-level workers, who currently start at less than US$20 an hour, and to get them to the peak wage of almost US$30 an hour in three or four years, instead of the current period of eight years.Going into this bargaining season, our members have been very clear about what they will and will not accept from this contract, UAW Vice President Terry Dittes said at a press conference on Sunday.Temporary employees and those working their way up the pay scale are doing the same work for less compensation, said Ted Krumm, the head of the unions bargaining committee. We are fighting for the future of the middle class, he said. GM countered that it made the union a generous offer to invest in factories in four states, including a new vehicle in the Detroit-Hamtramck sedan plant that had been slated to end production in January.In Lordstown, Ohio, where GM has idled the factory that once had three shifts of workers making Chevrolet Cruze compact cars, the automaker plans to set up the first union-represented electric-car battery plant in the U.S. There are also four electric trucks coming that other UAW plants will build.GM offered workers a signing bonus of US$8,000 per member if they ratify the deal, plus wage gains or lump-sum payments in all four years of the contract. The carmaker says its offering to keep members health-care contributions the same as in the current contract.The walkout will be just the second national work stoppage at GM since a 67-day strike in 1970. GM did have a 54-day strike at a key plant in Flint, Michigan, in 1998 that effectively shut down most of its assembly
Origin: U.S. workers’ union starts first strike against GM in 12 years
Ford to cut roughly 200 workers at Oakville plant
The robots do their work on the line in the Ford Oakville assembly plant, on June 7, 2013. Workers and robotics work together in the million square feet facility to produce over 200,00 cars a year. Ford plans to lay off about 200 of the 4,600 workers at its Oakville, Ontario assembly plant come September, the automaker announced mid-July, and may let go even more employees there in January.We have been arguing as a local for the past several weeks trying to persuade the company from somehow avoiding this scenario, but to no avail, Dave Thomas, president of Unifor Local 707, in Oakville, Ontario, was quoted on the unions website last week.As always, its based on a business decision and it all comes down to dollars and cents, he said.The plant turns out the Ford Flex and Lincoln MXT, both of which have seen sales slow considerably, the automaker said. The Ford Edge, another Oakville-built product, is also seeing demand drop after it was pulled from several markets in Europe.We have a longstanding practice of matching production with consumer demand, Kelli Felker, Fords manufacturing and labour communications manager, told
Origin: Ford to cut roughly 200 workers at Oakville plant
Ford will axe 7,000 workers by September in cost-saving efforts
A Ford employee works on the final assembly line for the Ford F-150 pickup in this file photo.Larry W. Smith When big companies use terms like “redesign” and “restructure,” you know the axe is going to fly. As part of its ongoing restructuring meant to cut costs and reduce bureaucracy, Ford has announced it will continue lopping off salaries through buyouts and job cuts, starting with 800 jobs by the end of June, and ramping up to 7,000 total by September. Most of the positions will be cut from overseas locations, with 2,300 jobs being lost in Canada and the U.S. According to the CBC, of those 2,300 from the U.S. and Canada, 1,500 cuts have already been made, with an estimated 500 more happening this week, followed by an additional 300 by August. In a letter to Ford employees, CEO Jim Hackett laid out the plan to lay off around 10 per cent of the company’s management workforce worldwide. Unlike the media coverage of the news which brings the job losses to the forefront, Ford’s internal email communication – published by CNBC in full here – is titled “Smart Redesign Update,” and doesn’t mention salary cuts until two-thirds of the way through the document. Sometimes it’s better to ease the people into the bad news. Ford is a family company and saying goodbye to colleagues is difficult and emotional, Hackett wrote in the email. We have moved away from past practices in some regions where team members who were separated had to leave immediately with their belongings, instead giving people the choice to stay for a few days to wrap up and say goodbye. He went on to encourage employees to “take a moment to thank them personally for their service and commitment to Ford.”
Origin: Ford will axe 7,000 workers by September in cost-saving efforts
GM outlines retirement packages for workers at closing Oshawa plant
An assembly line worker at the General Motors Assembly plant in Oshawa works on a car on Friday, December 16, 2011.Chris Young / The Canadian Press Workers who are losing their jobs at GM’s plant in Oshawa, Ontario could receive retirement packages that reach as high as $150,000, along with a $10,000 voucher against the purchase of a new car. The plant’s closure will send some 2,600 assembly line workers out the door when the Chevrolet Impala, Cadillac XTS and last-generation full-size pickup trucks end production later this year. GM recently announced it is investing $170 million into the plant to stamp new and aftermarket parts, and to turn a portion of the plant into a test track for autonomous vehicles. The move is expected to save 300 hourly jobs, which could grow to 500 jobs in three years. Unifor Local 222, which represents the workers, outlined the retirement packages. About 1,300 employees will qualify to receive them. The top package of $150,000 is for skilled trades. For other employees with 30 years of credited service, or who are of retirement age, the package will be $130,000. Both packages would include a vehicle voucher. Workers with ten years of service, but who are younger than 50, can accept a $130,000 package and voucher. Those of the appropriate age can instead opt for a three-year layoff and then receive early retirement benefits when they turn 50 years old. The packages for those with less than ten years of service range from $40,000 for those with at least four years, to a payment of $10,000 for those who worked for less than a year. GM also operates two other facilities in Ontario: a powertrain plant in St. Catharines, and a parts centre in Woodstock. Some Oshawa workers with more than five years of experience will be eligible for a $10,000 allowance to relocate to those facilities, and in turn, senior workers at those plants will be offered a $40,000 retirement incentive to open new positions on a one-job-for-one-job
Origin: GM outlines retirement packages for workers at closing Oshawa plant
GM adds 400 workers to build new mid-engine Corvette
General Motors Bowling Green PlantGeneral Motors General Motors will add a second shift to its Bowling Green, Kentucky assembly plant to build the next-generation mid-engine Corvette. The new shift will add more than 400 hourly jobs at the plant, bringing the total workforce to more than 1,300 employees. The new Corvette will be officially revealed on July 18, 2019. GM said it has invested more than US$900 million into the Bowling Green facility since 2011, with investments going into a new body shop and paint shop, an increase in engine capacity, and adding what it calls a Performance Build Center. The plant has produced more than one million Corvettes since it opened in 1981. The final production model of the seventh-generation Corvette will be auctioned off this summer, with proceeds benefiting the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation, which provides support and housing assistance for military and first-responders. The automaker is still tight-lipped about the upcoming C8 Corvette, and other than its mid-ship engine placement, everything else we’ve heard is pretty much speculation. Rumour has it that it’ll make anywhere between 500 and 1,000 horsepower, its V8 engine will have displacement-on-demand, it’ll carry a dual-clutch or ten-speed automatic transmission, and have a base price of around US$70,000 — although we think that’s way on the low side. We’ve also heard that there might be an ultra-top-end version called the Zora, named for Zora Arkus-Duntov, the “Father of the Corvette” who in the late 1950s and early 1960s, took Chevy’s original underpowered sports car and turned it into a beast. Stay
Origin: GM adds 400 workers to build new mid-engine Corvette
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