|
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
October 24, 2003Ford official: Government help neededHe said costs are lower in other nationsByRecord-Eagle staff writer TRAVERSE CITY - The government should step in and lower the playing field on health care and pension costs so domestic automakers can compete with foreign companies, Ford Motor Co.'s vice chairman told a local economic club. Speaking before a meeting of the Economic Club of Traverse City, Allan Gilmour on Friday said Ford, General Motors and DaimlerChrysler are saddled with higher pension and health care costs than Japanese and European automakers with plants in the United States. "Our average employee is 47 or 48 years old, while workers at Honda, Nissan and Toyota in the U.S. are around 30," he said. "Older workers use health care benefits more, driving up costs." Foreign-owned plants, built mostly over the last 15 years, also employ mostly young workers and have few retirees. The Big Three, on the other hand, have 486,000 retirees and surviving spouses, according to United Auto Workers figures. Most get significant health care benefits. "The biggest reason we are at a disadvantage is the cost of health care," Gilmour said. "We spend $2.9 billion a year for that, more than we pay for steel." He said he wasn't advocating socialized medicine but that health care costs are much lower in countries that do have national health programs. "The United States is the only major country where the health system is employer based," he said. Ford has done what it can to wring out excess costs, he said. While sales volume is good, the company's market share is slipping and profitability is weak. "There is a global standard now for prices of cars and trucks but not for costs," he said. "There's no question that carmakers from Europe and Japan have had a big impact and costs have to go down. There will be no end to rebates in the near future." Gilmour, 68, has been part of a major restructuring for the company since being called out of retirement by Ford chairman William Clay Ford Jr. a year and a half ago. One of his missions was to refocus the company on building cars and trucks after years in which the company diversified into a number of other industries and services.
|
|
