Mexican Media Brands
Ford Healthcare Costs to Top $1 Billion Next Year
Ford Motor Co. projects the cost of healthcare coverage for its 56,000 hourly employees in the U.S. will top a record $1 billion in 2020, Bloomberg News reports.
#labor
Share
Ford Motor Co. projects the cost of healthcare coverage for its 56,000 hourly employees in the U.S. will top a record $1 billion in 2020, a source tells Bloomberg News.
The figure is certain to come up this summer when Ford begins contract talks with the United Auto Workers union. Healthcare costs are likely to be a key negotiation point this year for all the unionized domestic producers.
Ford’s hourly workers currently pay only 3% of the cost of their medical coverage—one-tenth as much as salaried employees pay for their insurance, Bloomberg reports. One of its sources says maintaining the current scheme for hourly workers through the next three-year contract would be the equivalent of a $3 boost in hourly pay.
Spiraling healthcare costs are a disincentive for carmakers to add jobs or even maintain current employment levels in the U.S. But Bloomberg points out that the UAW isn’t like to budge on the issue. The union considers medical coverage as compensation for a decade of concessions on wages and work rules to help the domestic industry survive the 2009 economic recession.
RELATED CONTENT
-
Is Brexit U.K. Auto’s Waterloo?
French manufacturers, particularly those in the automotive sector, are making significant investments in robotic technology, according to the International Federation of Robotics (IFR). The organization says that its most recent figures show that the number of robots installed in the French car industry rose 22 percent, to 1,400 units.
-
Skilled-Trade Workers Reject GM Contract, Ratification in Limbo
The United Auto Workers union says its production workers ratified a new four-year labor contract with General Motors Co. by a 58% margin.
-
What to Do In an R&D Overcapacity Situation
Opel is making a big change in staffing in Rüsselsheim