Ford to slash 10,000 workers

DETROIT, Mich. — Ford Motor Co. is considering shedding almost 10,000 salaried employees, or about 20 per cent of its U.S. executive workforce in an effort to retool its North American operations.

The world’s second-largest carmaker, which last week tapped a Ford as its new chief executive, is expected to announce details of the cuts by the end of the year.

The job-cutting plan comes on top of an earlier announcement that the company would shed 4,000-5,000 salaried workers through early retirement this year.

It is understood the company, which has lost US$1.05-billion in the past two quarters, hopes to save more than US$1-billion through an aggressive reduction of its white-collar staff. Last night Ford said any specific decisions were not likely to be finalized before January.

Any cuts to Canadian white collar jobs will probably be light because the bulk of Ford Canada’s 16,000 employees work in blue-collar positions, Dennis DesRosiers, auto analyst with DesRosiers Automotive Consultants Inc, tells media sources. “Ford’s white-collar workforce in the U.S. is literally 20 plus times what it is here. So when it comes to these cutbacks, Canada tends to escape relatively unscathed.”

John Arnone, a spokesman for the automaker’s Canadian unit, stressed that fewer than 200 workers will be affected in the current round of early retirements, less than 5 per cent of the expected total for North America.