Ford, United Auto Workers Reach Agreement to Offer Buyout Packages to More Than 75,000 Workers
Sept. 14, 2006 -- DETROIT (AP) -- A local union leader says Ford Motor Co. and the United Auto Workers have reached an agreement on Thursday to offer buyout packages to more than 75,000 union workers.
In other news, the automaker announced that Anne Stevens, an architect of the restructuring effort and one of the auto industry's highest ranking women, is retiring.
The announcement that Stevens, 57, will retire came on the eve of the automaker's planned announcement that it will accelerate job cuts and take other steps in hopes of returning to profitability.
She had been at the center of Ford's turnaround efforts since October 2005 when she was named executive vice president. She and Mark Fields, Ford's recently appointed president for the Americas, oversaw development of the company's Way Forward plan. Ford had seen its sales slump amid competition from fuel-efficient models from Asian automakers, and the plan was designed to cut costs.
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