With United Auto Workers union leaders having endorsed a new agreement, and the company also announcing it had agreed to pay $15.4 billion to create a health-care fund with the UAW, it's appropriate to evaluate Ford's (NYSE: F) progress and prospects.
One has to view the (tentative) contract agreement, and any fully-ratified deal, as a positive data point. Among other contract features, if ratified the agreement would enable Ford to hire up to 20% of its work force under a lower-tier wage structure that would substantially reduce its hourly wage structure, Reuters reported Monday, in exchange for Ford's sparing from closure six plants it had planned to close. In short, if ratified, Ford will have made considerable progress in three key areas: labor costs per hour, work rules, and health insurance cost containment. Ford's shares closed Monday down 28 cents to $8.67.
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