Ford Executive Chair Bill Ford calls on autoworkers to end strike, says company's future is at stake
Ford Executive Chair Bill Ford calls on autoworkers to end strike, says company's future is at stake
Ford Motor Co. Executive Chairman Bill Ford called on autoworkers to come together and end a monthlong strike that he says could cost the company the ability to invest in the future.
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/6896117
Ford Motor Co. Executive Chairman Bill Ford called on autoworkers to come together to end a monthlong strike that he says could cost the company the ability to invest in the future.
In a rare speech during contract talks in the company’s hometown of Dearborn, Michigan, Ford said high labor costs could limit spending to develop new vehicles and invest in factories. “It’s the absolute lifeblood of our company. And if we lose it, we will lose to the competition. America loses. Many jobs will be lost,” said the great grandson of company founder Henry Ford.
The company, he said, builds more vehicles in America and has more United Auto Workers employees than any company, which has increased its costs in a highly competitive industry.
Ford has 57,000 UAW workers compared with 46,000 at GM and 43,000 at Stellantis. “Many of our competitors moved jobs to Mexico as we added jobs here in the U.S.,” Ford said.
Company's future is at stake, you say? If only there were one single person with the power to end this and save the company.
Cry me a river, billionaire. Those workers don’t owe you jack. Pay them what they deserve and stfu.
Ford had $42.5B in profit in 2023 Q2, while they spend an average of less than $8B annually on R&D. Obviously if they needed to spend more, they would already be doing it, they have the money to do so.
So they have about $160B annually they could spend before it even eats in to anything other than pure profit. They have 57k UAW workers at Ford.
So unless they are giving each new employee an additional $2.8 million PER YEAR, it will not eat into R&D whatsoever.
First, let's talk about stock buybacks, government bailouts, pandemic assistance money, and record profits, all of which happened after workers accepted reduced pay and reduced benefits to help "make the company profitable again".
"The economy that only works for the billionaire class and not the working class," Shawn Fain (UAW President)
Ford Executive Chair Bill Ford calls on autoworkers to end strike, says Shareholders' Income is at Stake.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
In a rare speech during contract talks in the company’s hometown of Dearborn, Michigan, Ford said high labor costs could limit spending to develop new vehicles and invest in factories.
Bill Ford, only the fourth family member to lead the 120-year-old company, said he has watched other countries lose their auto industries, then all of their manufacturing base.
The speech from Ford arrives with the entire auto industry making a historic and expensive shift from internal combustion engines to electric vehicles.
UAW President Shawn Fain has said Ford and crosstown rivals General Motors and Jeep maker Stellantis are making billions in profits, and that workers should get a share.
He says the workers should be repaid for sacrificing general pay raises, cost of living adjustments and agreeing to lower wage tiers to keep the companies afloat during the Great Recession.
The seemingly widening labor rift suggests Ford and the union may be in for a lengthy strike that could cost the company and its workers billions of dollars.
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That’s kinda funny because you could also call this particular union campaign “Bill Ford”
Oh, it is at stake, no doubt about. Starting by his job if he can't figure a way to break the blockade the unions are putting up.