If that’s correct and if all the workers eventually leave, the loss would be yet another drain on UAW, following a similar buyout at General Motors and the uncertainty its members face at bankrupt Delphi Auto Parts.
The UAW had no official comment on Ford’s statement, but union President Ron Gettelfinger told a pro-worker Detroit news-talk radio program just after the buyout was proposed several months ago that UAW agreed to it.
"This was the most painful decision I ever had" as UAW leader, he told Paul Smith of WJR on Sept. 18. While avoiding Smith’s question about the impact of the buyout on UAW, Gettelfinger noted a positive side for workers: Union representation.
"The fact that they are represented" by UAW "means they do have a voice at the table" when Ford proposed the drastic cost-cutting measure, Gettelfinger told Smith. "We sat down with Ford and worked out the buyout packages that are all-encompassing" for the workers, the union chief added.
The buyouts give each Ford worker between $35,000 and $140,000 in lump-sum payments, depending on length of service, retirement dates, and whether they keep their medical benefits. Some of the workers could opt for education subsidies. Workers had until Nov. 27 to accept the buyouts. Actual departures will start in 2007.
The impact at Ford plants varied. Union officials at its St. Paul, Minn., plant reported 93 percent of the workforce there accepted the buyout, raising the possibility that Ford might hire non-UAW temps to keep assembly lines going after a mass exodus.
Ford’s Chicago plant cut its production by 30 percent in early November, news reports said. That would let the plant lay off a similar number of its 2,400 UAW members. Local union leaders did not know how many decided to take the buyout.
"After the line rate reduction, each operator will have more time to perform additional work because each unit (vehicle) passes through their work station at a slower rate," Local 551 Chairman Tony Tallarita wrote to his members. "As work stations are removed and workload from one operator to another are split up and added to other operations, we will be left with fewer jobs at the plant."
And bloggers at the plant in Louisville, Ky., had several estimates of the numbers taking the buyout there, ranging up to 1,200.
Mark Gruenberg writes for Press Associates, Inc., news service. Used by permission.
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If that’s correct and if all the workers eventually leave, the loss would be yet another drain on UAW, following a similar buyout at General Motors and the uncertainty its members face at bankrupt Delphi Auto Parts.
The UAW had no official comment on Ford’s statement, but union President Ron Gettelfinger told a pro-worker Detroit news-talk radio program just after the buyout was proposed several months ago that UAW agreed to it.
"This was the most painful decision I ever had" as UAW leader, he told Paul Smith of WJR on Sept. 18. While avoiding Smith’s question about the impact of the buyout on UAW, Gettelfinger noted a positive side for workers: Union representation.
"The fact that they are represented" by UAW "means they do have a voice at the table" when Ford proposed the drastic cost-cutting measure, Gettelfinger told Smith. "We sat down with Ford and worked out the buyout packages that are all-encompassing" for the workers, the union chief added.
The buyouts give each Ford worker between $35,000 and $140,000 in lump-sum payments, depending on length of service, retirement dates, and whether they keep their medical benefits. Some of the workers could opt for education subsidies. Workers had until Nov. 27 to accept the buyouts. Actual departures will start in 2007.
The impact at Ford plants varied. Union officials at its St. Paul, Minn., plant reported 93 percent of the workforce there accepted the buyout, raising the possibility that Ford might hire non-UAW temps to keep assembly lines going after a mass exodus.
Ford’s Chicago plant cut its production by 30 percent in early November, news reports said. That would let the plant lay off a similar number of its 2,400 UAW members. Local union leaders did not know how many decided to take the buyout.
"After the line rate reduction, each operator will have more time to perform additional work because each unit (vehicle) passes through their work station at a slower rate," Local 551 Chairman Tony Tallarita wrote to his members. "As work stations are removed and workload from one operator to another are split up and added to other operations, we will be left with fewer jobs at the plant."
And bloggers at the plant in Louisville, Ky., had several estimates of the numbers taking the buyout there, ranging up to 1,200.
Mark Gruenberg writes for Press Associates, Inc., news service. Used by permission.