UAW VP: FORD SHOULD SPREAD WEALTH

[SVT666]

UAW VP: FORD SHOULD SPREAD WEALTH
By Andrew Ganz

The United Auto Workers union?s top Ford executive told members of the media yesterday that he expects that the Dearborn automaker will share in its good financial fortune with its union-represented employees.

Jimmy Settles told The Detroit News that he has no objection to Ford?s decision to dole out $130 million in stock to its senior executives, including CEO and President Alan Mulally ($58.5 million) and Executive Chairman Bill Ford Jr. ($42.4 million).

?I am going to look at that on the up side and say that I know that they compensated them very well at the top, so I feel that they are going to compensate us at the bottom very well,? Settles said. ?They believe in fairness.?

Ford already handed out profit sharing checks to its hourly workers earlier this month. The checks averaged about $5,000 per worker.

Settles says that he thinks Ford is in a position to make even further concessions to its workers.

?We?re looking for everything ? plus,? Settles said. ?We?re going to negotiate smart. We?re not going to cut our nose off to spite our face. We?re going to do what?s best for the membership.?

Holding off on targeting imports
Settles also said that the UAW probably won?t directly target Japanese automakers hurt by the massive 9.0-scale earthquake and resulting tsunami.

?If they are in dire need, we would not be trying to taking advantage of the situation,? he said.

The UAW has said previously that it plans to target foreign automakers operating in the United States in an attempt to boost its ranks. Toyota, which has the bulk of its global small car operations located near the quake?s epicenter in Sendai, Japan, has the largest presence in the U.S. of any foreign automaker.

[Atomic]

no wonder they didn't (DARE) ask for a government loan  ! crazy...

[Morris Minor]

Another reminder why Ford should ditch the UAW by moving all its operations outside the country.

[VTEC_Inside]

Hold up, they still have their jobs and a $5000 bonus check and they want more?

[TBR]

Idiots.

Factory workers are commodities; white collar workers are the ones that create the value that turns in to margins.

[Submariner]

Idiots.

Factory workers are commodities; white collar workers are the ones that create the value that turns in to margins.

Lulz - try telling them that.

What does an average worker make per year?

[sportyaccordy]

I think TBR was being sarcastic. On the low end white collar workers are just as disposable as a sheet metal puncher

[TBR]

I think TBR was being sarcastic. On the low end white collar workers are just as disposable as a sheet metal puncher

Not really.

I initially was going to say executives but there are certainly non-executive white collar workers who are not easily replaced. White collar was probably too broad though.

[AutobahnSHO]

Lulz - try telling them that.

What does an average worker make per year?

$27/hour is a figure I've seen in news articles.

[NomisR]

$27/hour is a figure I've seen in news articles.

That's for unskilled labor I believe.  I thnk it's $35 for skilled.

[Vinsanity]

$27/hour is a figure I've seen in news articles.

That's for unskilled labor I believe.  I thnk it's $35 for skilled.

boy do I feel like an idiot for wasting my precious years going to college

[FoMoJo]

That's for unskilled labor I believe.  I thnk it's $35 for skilled.

I believe that's the 'cost' figure.

[Mustangfan2003]

That's a pretty good wage.  The Toyota plant opening here is starting people out with no experience at $15 an hour. 

[MX793]

I believe that's the 'cost' figure.

No, that's average base wage for skilled trades.  The "cost" figure for the average worker, including base wage, overtime, and healthcare/retirement benefits is over $70/hr, per what I've read.

[SVT666]

Ford CEO Alan Mulally saw 48 percent raise to $26.5M last year
By Andrew Ganz

To thank CEO Alan Mulally for his efforts in helping to rebuild Ford Motor Company, the automaker awarded its chief with $26.5 million in total compensation last year ? making him the industry?s most highly-paid executive, even though Ford is not the most profitable automaker.

That figure represents a nearly 50 percent raise over 2009, but it comes several years into Ford?s remarkable turn-around from the brink of bankruptcy when Mulally took charge in 2006.

VW CEO Martin Winterkorn earned about $13 million last year including stock compensation ? VW earned about 40 percent more profit than Ford did in 2010.

The automaker released last year?s executive compensation late last week while it is in the midst of discussions with the United Auto Workers union, which has suggested it wants workers to reap more benefits.

Last week, UAW chief Bob King called Mulally?s recent $56.5 million stock award ?outrageous? and he said that the union will use it as leverage for increased worker pay for a new contract set to start after the current one expires in September.

The union is likely to ask for more profit sharing and, reports Automotive News, it might look for stock options for workers.

Also making the list
Mulally isn?t Ford?s only well-paid executive, although as CEO, his earnings are the highest of anyone with a Ford business card. Executive Chairman Bill Ford received a $4.8 million salary, a $2.7 million bonus and $19 million worth of stock option awards last year after forgoing compensation between 2005 and 2009.

Ford?s other top executives, including President of the Americas Mark Fields, CFO Lewis Booth and Manufacturing and Labor Affairs Executive VP John Fleming all earned well into seven figures last year.

One of the most visible automaker executives in the industry, Fields earned a roughly $1.3 million salary, a $3.6 million bonus and enough stock awards to bump him up to around $8.8 million total last year.

[Mustangfan2003]

The UAW doesn't get it.  Ford is making a profit now and Ford hasn't had to cut the work force in a while.  Seems like these guys are worth the millions of dollars. 

[NomisR]

I believe that's the 'cost' figure.

This is what I found

Base wages average about $28 an hour. GM officials say the average reaches $39.68 an hour, including base pay, cost-of-living adjustments, night-shift premiums, overtime, holiday and vacation pay. Health-care, pension and other benefits average another $33.58 an hour, GM says.

Also, from what I've read, per Union contract, their gardener and janitorial staff are also considered production workers which are guaranteed the same wage. 

[SVT666]

Personally I think Mulally is worth every penny.

EDIT:  Although that new Explorer has me questioning things.

[NomisR]

Personally I think Mulally is worth every penny.

I think only time will tell, in a few ways though, you can also say, his timing was just better than GM.  But then again, timing meant everything.

[SVT666]

I think only time will tell, in a few ways though, you can also say, his timing was just better than GM.  But then again, timing meant everything.

Timing IS everything.  Perfect timing is what makes a great strategist and leader.

[Submariner]

"Last week, UAW chief Bob King called Mulally?s recent $56.5 million stock award ?outrageous? and he said that the union will use it as leverage for increased worker pay for a new contract set to start after the current one expires in September."

Fuck you - cunt. 

[280Z Turbo]

"Last week, UAW chief Bob King called Mulally?s recent $56.5 million stock award ?outrageous? and he said that the union will use it as leverage for increased worker pay for a new contract set to start after the current one expires in September."

Fuck you - cunt. 

The UAW is more greedy than most "corporate fatcats".

Although, if I were Mulally, I would probably just give back my raises in the form of bonuses for employees. When you're that rich, does a raise even matter?

[Submariner]

The UAW is more greedy than most "corporate fatcats".

Although, if I were Mulally, I would probably just give back my raises in the form of bonuses for employees. When you're that rich, does a raise even matter?

The better question is, who is more responsible for Ford's turn around?

a) Mulally?
b) Union cunts?

That he is already rich is irrelevant.  He has earned his money by turning a broken company into something good - I may not like most Ford's as of late, but they do have a compelling lineup.  UAW membership is, quite honestly, expendable.  Ford could survive with any number of UAW employees, but likely wouldn't without Mulally behind the wheel. 

I'm sorry, but 70 dollars an hour (alleged wages in years past) is fucking absurd, especially when coupled with the UAW's notorious ability to cost companies billions a year in feigned sick days, extra long breaks, etc, etc.  They're pushing for the same policies that helped get the big three into a mess in the first place - the stupidity is fucking unreal. 

[280Z Turbo]

The better question is, who is more responsible for Ford's turn around?

a) Mulally?
b) Union cunts?

That he is already rich is irrelevant.  He has earned his money by turning a broken company into something good - I may not like most Ford's as of late, but they do have a compelling lineup.  UAW membership is, quite honestly, expendable.  Ford could survive with any number of UAW employees, but likely wouldn't without Mulally behind the wheel. 

I'm sorry, but 70 dollars an hour (alleged wages in years past) is fucking absurd, especially when coupled with the UAW's notorious ability to cost companies billions a year in feigned sick days, extra long breaks, etc, etc.  They're pushing for the same policies that helped get the big three into a mess in the first place - the stupidity is fucking unreal. 

That's not really what I was getting at. When you're as rich as he is, what do you even spend that money on?

[GoCougs]

I don't care much for Mulally. He was one of the primary decision makers in of one of the single worst business decision in modern times (787 outsourcing). At Ford vehicles under his tutelage have been rather lackluster - new Taurus, Flex and Explorer, languishing of the Fusion and Mustang, to be exact. Even the new Focus was designed by Ford Europe and Ford is but a curiosity in the Chinese market. Ford's pretty much been milking the F-series, which is risky to say the least, as gas crests $4/gallon.

[Speed_Racer]

There's a saying that the UAW would be wise to remember: "Don't bite the hand that feeds you."

[the Teuton]

I don't care much for Mulally. He was one of the primary decision makers in of one of the single worst business decision in modern times (787 outsourcing). At Ford vehicles under his tutelage have been rather lackluster - new Taurus, Flex and Explorer, languishing of the Fusion and Mustang, to be exact. Even the new Focus was designed by Ford Europe and Ford is but a curiosity in the Chinese market. Ford's pretty much been milking the F-series, which is risky to say the least, as gas crests $4/gallon.

Are you insane in the membrane?

The Mustang is the best car in its class.

The Fusion is still one of the best cars in its class, and it's merging with the Mondeo in its next iteration, which is to say that if it's anywhere near as good as the Fiesta and Focus, it'll be a winner.

The Taurus is a worse car than the one it replaced, but it's selling better because the old one was utterly devoid of style. At the end of the day, car sales are the only things that matter. Same with Flex and Explorer. The Explorer went from 300,000 sales annually to just 40,000. Something needed to be done, and Mulally realized that the brand equity of the car's name was much greater than the truckiness of it.

I'll agree on China, but in his defense, Ford has a stranglehold on India with the exception of Maruti-Suzuki and a few other players. And I think India is a much more stable economy than China.

[GoCougs]

There's a saying that the UAW would be wise to remember: "Don't bite the hand that feeds you."

Nah, the UAW now has major stakes in GM and Chrysler, and will own a big chunk of Ford too should another recession hit anytime soon. I'd argue that the UAW knows exactly what it is doing.

[GoCougs]

Are you insane in the membrane?

The Mustang is the best car in its class.

The Fusion is still one of the best cars in its class, and it's merging with the Mondeo in its next iteration, which is to say that if it's anywhere near as good as the Fiesta and Focus, it'll be a winner.

The Taurus is a worse car than the one it replaced, but it's selling better because the old one was utterly devoid of style. At the end of the day, car sales are the only things that matter. Same with Flex and Explorer. The Explorer went from 300,000 sales annually to just 40,000. Something needed to be done, and Mulally realized that the brand equity of the car's name was much greater than the truckiness of it.

I'll agree on China, but in his defense, Ford has a stranglehold on India with the exception of Maruti-Suzuki and a few other players. And I think India is a much more stable economy than China.

What does it matter if they're "best in class" if they're relatively old and get (way) outsold by the competition?

Brand equity means zilch without a great product. Though I subscribe to the basic tenet that in modern times there's really no such thing as a bad car the Taurus and Explorer just aren't great products. Sure they had a bit of style and pizazz versus their predecessors but they aren't going to big market share gainers; maybe even losers. The Camaro program is how brand equity is revived.

The Focus and Fiesta I think are too daring to make much inroads. The new Focus is precisely why Detroit didn't sell its European cars here and why VWs never sold well here either. Sure it looks like a fine/sporty/sexy car but people don't want that en masse. They want Corollas - look at the market moves of the new Civic, Jetta, and Passat.

All in all I'd argue Mulally doesn't quite understand the industry and a lot of the "wins" Ford has had was owing to nothing to do with his leadership - the market share gains owing to BR of GM and Chrysler and corresponding public fallout, ditto for Toyota owing to the manufactured "unintended acceleration" situation, and the accounting artifact of refinance debt hitting the books as profit. Sure things could be worse but Ford is where it's at more by external circumstances than by Mulally's leadership.

[giant_mtb]

At the end of the day, car sales are the only things that matter.

Isn't that the kind of mentality that fucked over GM in the first place?