The UAW official in charge of contract talks with Ford told Reuters on Wednesday he opposes the car maker’s plans to build new vehicle lines outside the United States.
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“I’m upset about the fact that Ford Motor Co. plans to, first of all, not build in Atlanta, and then also to send that particular work to Canada and also to Mexico,” UAW International Vice President Gerald Bantom told the news agency.
Reuters said Bantom was referring to what industry analysts have said are Ford’s plans to build a new mid-sized family sedan at its plant in Hermosillo, Mexico, and at least two new mid-sized SUVs at another plant in Oakville, Ontario.
Bantom was also referring to the uncertain future faced by Ford’s plant in the Atlanta suburb of Hapeville, where it builds the Ford Taurus and Mercury Sable, aging vehicles that Ford is expected to kill off this decade, the report added.
According to Reuters, Bantom did not elaborate or say how Ford’s plans could affect the outcome of the labour talks that began last month.
Ford spokesman Ed Lewis told Reuters he was unable to comment on the company’s plans for its Atlanta plant or the plants in Mexico and Canada.
“We don’t discuss future product plans and future business strategies,” Lewis told the news agency.
Reuters said Ford has targeted at least two US assembly plants for shutdowns as part of the multiyear turnaround plan it launched in January 2002 and any decision to build new products in lower-cost labour markets outside the United States is sure to be an issue in the labour negotiations.
The talks, involving not only Ford but General Motors and the Chrysler unit of DaimlerChrysler, will heat up around Labour Day when the UAW typically picks a “target company” for its hardest bargaining and, after hammering out an agreement with the first company, the UAW takes that pattern for labour contracts it will sign with the other two, Reuters added.
The news agency noted that Ford has lagged its Detroit competitors in bulking up Mexican production – its two Mexican plants have built about 4% of Ford’s North American output this year, and Ford is killing the Escort car line built there.
Meanwhile, Reuters added, Chrysler has two plants in Mexico with capacity for more than 400,000 vehicles that account for roughly 17% of its North American output and GM has three assembly plants capable of building at least 500,000 vehicles a year in Mexico, or about 9% of its North American production.
