Ford of Europe says it remains satisfied with its wage structure and pronounces itself “comfortable” with its salary position compared to the competition.
Ford recently unveiled plans to pay US$5,000 bonus payments to its UAW hourly employees, but the situation in Europe is complicated by the extremely diverse nature of the automaker’s business across the continent.
“Obviously we are looking to our competivity and each country is different,” Ford of Europe chairman and CEO Stephen Odell told just-auto on the eve of this year’s Geneva Motor Show.
“We have good discussions with the unions – we are very comfortable we are competitive with local market conditions. There are always some issues we have because we have a lot of employees…and we have conversation.”
A Ford spokesman in Geneva echoed his CEO’s comments, noting wage negotiations “vary market to market,” and that it was “important to incentivise people.”
The spokesman nonetheless added Ford staff were “realistic” and knew where the company had come from and that the manufacturer was “still at the start of our One Ford roll-out.”
Ford recently posted full year net income for 2010 of US$6.6bn, a US$3.8bn increase compared to the previous year ago.
Pre-tax operating profit was US$8.3bn, up US$8.3bn from a year ago and above analysts’ estimates.