Posted on 09/15/2006 5:16:26 AM PDT by Mikey_1962
Cuts include 14,000 white collar jobs, fourth-quarter dividend; North American operations likely not profitable before 2009; market share expected to be around 15 percent
DETROIT -- Ford Motor Co. said today it will cut its operating costs by $5 billion and cut its salaried work force by one-third, or about 14,000 positions, as it speeds up its Way Forward restructuring plan.
Ford also said it will not pay a stock dividend for the fourth quarter, and will sell or close all former Visteon plants by the end of 2008 and close other plants.
The automaker now acknowledges that it won't return its North American automotive unit to profitability by the end of 2008 as previously planned. Because of further expected market share declines, Ford now says that full-year profitability for the unit is not expected before 2009.
That unit lost $1.6 billion before taxes in 2005. It lost another $1.3 billion before taxes and one-time charges through the first half of this year.
Market share for the Ford, Lincoln and Mercury brands will continue to fall, Ford said today. The combined market share of the three brands already has dropped by 1.1 percentage points through August, to 16.8 percent of the U.S. market.
Ford said today that U.S. market share of those brands will be in the low 16 percent range by the end of this year. Ford expects share to further fall to the 14 to 15 percent range in the future.
Ford will idle its Norfolk, Va., assembly plant in 2007, a year earlier than planned. That plant builds F-150 pickups.
A shift reduction is now planned for the Norfolk plant and the St. Paul, Minn., plant that builds the Ford Ranger pickup.
(Excerpt) Read more at autonews.com ...
No, you are the smug one, so get off your high horse. And blame the UAW! Geesh!
I am praying for all those at Ford now and in the past. My husband works at GM. He kept a job. Pray for those in Doraville Georgia who do not have a job-October 1st. They will soon be without any job. The last paycheck is it-no deals of any kind.
If you truly believe that some faceless foreign CEO cares about this country-think again. You are selling America out. The Dems want to give America away. Pure capitalist want to sell America. In the end the coutry will suffer either way.
When we start abandoning entire cities and states (Michigan), I have to say I don't see pure capitalism as being particularly successful.
I would say that Toyota's quality has not improved-base on the huge number of recalls-worst record in the industry today.
Spoken like a true socialist. Corporations exist for the sole purpose of the stockholders. Workers are no different than raw materials, a compmnent of the manufacturing process.
Well managed corporations take care of their employees because it is profitable to do so. When left wing thoughts such as your creep in the management must be changed.
My husband works for GM...so we don't own Ford stock. Unions certainly are not resposible for 95% of Ford's problem. There are management issues and most importantly the total failure of our government to insist on fair trade. Also, people who assume -against all evidence- that just because an American manufacured something that it is crap-like you certainly hurt all American business. You are a member of the hate America first club in my opinion.
....I consider it unpatriotic......
You need an attitude adjustment..... it's business, strictly business.
Hey you are a union worker. How dare you expect a decent wage and health insurance(sarcasm). Everything wrong with America is your fault; you should be willing to work for a bowl of rice (sarcasm). Once the unions are out of the way...American business will be reborn (sarcasm).
Unfortunately, if the global capitalist get their way, we should be prepared for 'Cinderella Man' like conditions. The American business model of the 20th century was based upon the belief that people should be able to buy the products they make. It was very successful and created a prosperous middle class. The robber baron type of capitalism will create unrest, revolution and ultimately destroy the middle class.
Nothing is ever stictly business. If Americans lose jobs. Democrats will most likely win, and America will lose. Business affects every aspect of our lives. I stand by my statement. Patriotic people support their own companies whenever possible. The hate America first crowd which includes conservatives needs an attitude adjustment.
You are mistaken.
Your logic is totally flawed.
Sucessful business grows. Unsuccessful business dies. Social work is incidental.
I don't know that Ford can afford such a program. Cash is a big problem right now at Ford.
Business can not be succersful when their hands are tied behind their back...we need to have fair trade. Make foreign competitors obey the law.
This is a very simplistic view. Business is affected by society and vice versa.
My problems with the unions are political activities and scale based pay.
Union political activities only promote the fantasy that all union members agree and blindly vote the way their union wants. Thats simply not true. In fact most of the union members that I know tend to be conservative but union members in the Detroit area are probably on the liberal side of the scale.
As far as scale based pay is concerned, I think people should be paid based on their merits.
.....Make foreign competitors obey the law.....
You mean like insourcing jobs to unionless South Carolina where both Daimler Chrysler and BMW have established plants to comply with the laws that put tarriffs on their imported products.
There could be labor southward migration from Michigan but they have the union disease and are thus not employable.
Or perhaps like Nissan that recently moved its headquarters from the sewer of Los Angeles to more friendly Tennessee where people actually work.
Auto jobs are not being lost, the loser's jobs are being taken up by others with a good attitude about a days work.
People on this board hate recognize the UAW and its advocacy of socialist Amerika.
People on this board hate recognize the extent of union interference in American Politics that attempts to sway elections towards liberalism.
People on this board hate recognize the brute tactics used by union members to force people into unions.
People on this board hate recognize the socialist agenda of Bill Ford and his willingness to utililize share-holder assests to further his political agenda (including homosexual advocacy).
Spoken like a true unstrained capitalist. Under your concept a corporation is free to do actual damage to a nation as long as it is done in the name of its stockholders.
From your perspective, you must have supported Bill Clinton and Loral corporation in their transfer of technology to the communist chinese that allowed the communists to MIRV their ICBM. It was good for Loral's stockholders
It appears you will support any form of government as long as it is good for corporate stockholders. That seems to make you a pro-communist supporter of communist china and Chavez in Venezuela. You would have been a perfect fit with the facists in Nazi Germany and Italy during World War II. They were good for the stockholders.
I'll just be Pro-American and believe that there is more to the life of a corporation than stockholders alone.
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