There's a white-collar guy at Ford who's spent the better part of a year teaching his replacement in India how to do his job.
The Ford employee's last day is next month, and the company demanded he sign a nondisclosure agreement in exchange for the honor of retaining his severance.
Ford CEO and President Jim Farley, who made nearly $23 million last year, seems poised to make sure last week's 3,000 white-collar job cuts are only the beginning. Another 5,000 white-collar jobs are on the chopping block as Farley makes the big bet on the electric future. Most of those jobs are here in Michigan.
I used to love Ford. If you grew up in Michigan, chances are you did too. You spent some time in an auto plant or machine shop or a parts supplier. The Big Three paid their taxes. That gave us good schools, which gave us good jobs which allowed us to pay back our student loans. Others went directly into the factory and made a good middle-class life. That's over.
I don't love Ford anymore because Ford doesn't love us. Maximum shareholder profit is now the immutable law. Funny how much of that profit comes in the heaping form of corporate venality and broken promises.
As one example, Ford received more than $100 million from the state of Michigan with the promise of upgrading its electric F-150 here and creating 3,000 jobs. Ford then pivots and lays off 3,000 people. A year ago, the company announced a major expansion of its engineering and technology hub in
India that already employs 11,000 people. Make that now 11,001.
For its part, GM was awarded $1 billion in cash and subsidies this year by the state in exchange for an investment of $7 billion and the creation of 4,000 jobs. But read the fine print. It really only requires a $3 billion investment and 3,200 jobs. And those jobs need only last six months.
By one account, taxpayers have rescued the Big Three to the tune of $120 billion in subsidies, grants and bailouts since 2000. Over that same time, household income in Michigan has dropped 7%.
Now we're left to scrounge. Ford's electric Mustang is built in Mexico, as will be GM's forthcoming Equinox and Blazer electric vehicles. Mexico now has more auto-industry workers than the United States, and yet Mexicans continue to pour over the border. Why wouldn't they, when GM pays them $3.25 an hour?
Back here in America, the average cost of an electric vehicle is $66,000. Who can afford that? The well-to-do, that's who. Their trendy vehicles built in Mexico are subsidized by the federal government to the tune of $7,500 thanks to Biden's Inflation Reduction Act. Unsurprisingly, Ford and GM announced plans to raise the price on their EVs by - you guessed it - around $7,500.
The appetite of the oligarchs knows no limits. In Detroit, Dan Gilbert gets a $60 million tax break for his skyscraper. Chris Ilitch gets a hockey arena paid in part with public
Ford CEO and President Jim Farley, who made nearly $23 million last year, has made clear that last week's 3,000 white-collar job cuts are only the beginning, LeDuff writes. Clarence Tabb Jr. / The Detroit News
CHARLIE LEDUFF
dollars and yet he shares no revenue. GM CEO Mary Barra got paid $29 million last year and leaves the RenCen nearly empty.
Meanwhile, First World people have been made into second-hand shoppers.
Those in the executive suites should open their windows and listen to the rumbling in the streets. Or pay someone on their security team to do it.