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Ford Offers Buyouts to ALL UAW Hourly Workers

The single big American manufacturer to have survived 2009 without going through the ordeal of the infamous Chapter 11 sees itself forced to cut its workforce, as it still faces overstaff issues.

According to MSNBC, the carmaker has offered buyout or retirement incentive packages to all of its 41,000 US hourly workers, without stating its expectations on how many will accept the offers.

"We're just going to try to right-size our manned capacity and align it with demand," company spokesman Mark Truby told the Associated Press.

The packages include $40,000 for skilled trades workers and $20,000 for nonskilled employees. The offers are valid only for workers which have 30 or more years of service, are 55 or older and have 10 or more years of work or are 65 and have at least one year of service. Both groups may also get a $25,000 voucher toward the purchase of a car or a $20,000 cash payment. The workers have until January 22 to decide on what Ford says is a voluntary retirement offer.

According to Truby, the offers have nothing to do with the fact that the UAW has rejected the company's new contract.

The news is somewhat surprising, given last week's announcement that it would restore merit pay and other benefits to its salaried workers starting next year. As was to be expected, the UAW is outraged.

"Everybody is insulted," Nick Kottalis, president and chairman of the Dearborn Truck unit of UAW Local 600 told freep.com.

"They wanted us to take concessions, and then they turned around and gave stuff back to their people," Ford worker Matthias Inman, 47, added. "It's just like a slap in the face."

Ford managed this summer to convince 1,000 UAW workers to take the buyouts and leave and said at the time it has no intention of offering more buyouts.

At the time, the 1,000 who chose to leave brought the total number of active Ford UAW employees to 47,000, down from the 95,000 threshold in 2003.

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About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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