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As contract talks to begin, Ford says workers shouldn't expect raises

Mark Fields, Ford's president of the Americas, has a clear message for UAW members who want more job security and higher pay now that the company is solidly profitable after the recession.

At a time when many of their neighbors still aren't working, he said, they shouldn't expect pay raises from a company whose average labor costs remain higher than those of its competitors.

"We cannot afford to slip back into old habits," Fields told the Free Press in an exclusive interview Thursday as the Detroit Three prepare to kick off labor talks this week.

Ford, like General Motors and Chrysler, is leaning toward more profit sharing in lieu of wage increases. It hopes to hire more workers, but at a lower, entry-level wage to bring down its overall costs. "It's important we stay focused on staying competitive," Fields said. As it enters talks, Ford faces a more challenging road than its crosstown rivals.

It has made more than $11 billion in profits since the start of 2009. Hourly workers, who got $5,000 profit-sharing checks for 2010 but chafed at millions paid to top executives, expect to recapture some of what they've sacrificed in a contract ratified in 2007. Indeed, UAW President Bob King has said he is opposed to new concessions.

At GM and Chrysler, government-backed bankruptcies resulted in a no-strike clause, so Ford alone faces a strike. Fields, relaxed during the interview but sober about Ford's task during negotiations, said that rather than having a target on its back because of its recent success, Ford has the "wind at our back. ... I wouldn't trade our position for anything."

Ford held a lottery last week in Louisville, Ky., to narrow a pool of 16,837 applicants for 1,800 jobs it will add to begin making the all-new Ford Escape in November.

That surge of job-seekers illustrates how this year's labor negotiations are different from any that came before. They will be focused more on future workers who won't be able to ratify the deals and the prospect of tying more of current workers' pay to Ford's U.S. profitability.

"There's nothing shameful about wanting to grow jobs in an economic environment where people don't have jobs," said Mark Fields, Ford president of the Americas. "This is not a dirty story. This is ... about growing the business."

The new jobs, which will pay an entry-level wage of $15.51 an hour, plus benefits, are the first of about 6,250 new hourly jobs Ford expects to add over the next two years.

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