Ford says 27,000 workers have left company
Ford, which last year offered United Auto Workers union employees buyouts as part of its restructuring, has said 37,000 workers accepted those offers.
The automaker, which posted a record loss of $12.7 billion in 2006 and a loss of $282 million for the 2007 first quarter, is in a four-year turnaround plan announced in 2006 that aims to cut 16 plants and up to
45,000 jobs.Ford spokeswoman Marcey Evans said on Thursday the automaker has about
700 workers in its 'jobs bank' -- a program that guarantees nearly full wages and benefits when the automaker eliminates work or closes factories.Ford and the other U.S. automakers face a crucial round of contract talks with the UAW this summer to replace a four-year deal on wages and benefits that expires in September.
The jobs bank program, which the automakers and the union created in the
1980s, is expected to be one of the hot-button issues up for discussion.The automakers had intended the work guarantee to yield productivity gains by convincing unionized workers that their jobs would be protected even if they helped to introduce cost-saving processes and equipment.
But more recently, the jobs bank program has been seen by some Wall Street analysts as a symbol of the entrenched costs that have contributed to the deep losses for U.S. automakers. The program effectively guaranteed pay without work for hundreds of employees.