Ford bans non-Ford Vehicles from parking lot

Thunder22 · #1 01-27-2006, 05:17 PM

Firm's Dearborn Truck Plant will require employees to drive a Ford or park across the street.

January 27, 2006: 10:53 AM EST

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Employees at Ford's Dearborn Truck Plant in Dearborn, Mich., will have to drive Ford Motor Co. vehicles to work or park across the street, the plant manager announced earlier this week.

The new parking policy, which is scheduled to take effect Feb. 1, was instituted by plant manager Rob Webber just as Ford reported losses of $1.6 billion from its North American auto operations in 2005 and Monday announced plans to close 14 plants and cut 30,000 jobs as it tries to reverse losses and respond to declining U.S. market share.

The Dearborn Truck Plant, which represents one portion of the Rouge facility, has 2,600 union employees and makes the F-150 pickup truck, the best selling vehicle in the United States.

A Ford spokesman told CNNMoney the company supported the move, although it had not been extended to the other North American manufacturing facilities.

Officials with UAW Local 600, who backed the announcement, are scheduled to conduct talks with management next week to finalize the details and discuss expanding the ban across the entire Rouge facility, union president Jerry Sullivan told CNNMoney.

"There has to be something put in place to grab people's attention and to make a statement that this is a serious thing," said Sullivan, whose union represents approximately 8,000 workers at the larger Rouge complex. "It's up to us to stand up and do what is right and to drive a vehicle from the company you work for."

The Dearborn Truck Plant parking policy will allow vehicles made by non-U.S. Ford brands such as Mazda, Volvo and Land Rover, Sullivan said.

The Detroit News, which first reported the story Friday, said the new parking policy in Dearborn was embraced by factory employees at a meeting to discuss the auto manufacturer's latest restructuring plan,

But one plant employee, who did not want to be quoted, told the paper he wasn't happy he would no longer be able to drive his Chrysler to the factory.

"They can't tell you how to spend your money," said one veteran tradesman. "It's still a free country." He said he got a better deal on his Chrysler than he could on a Ford.

"I got to go where I can get the most bang for my buck," he said.

Another Dearborn Truck employee told the newspaper he approved the move, though.

"You buy what you build," said Rufus McWilliams. "That only makes sense."

The Detroit Truck Plant opened in 2004 as part of the $2 billion renovation of the company's 1,100-acre Rouge facility, the paper reported.

motordavid · #2 01-27-2006, 05:19 PM

Ah, those far sighted US car mfg'ers...wtf.

I thought that stuff had dryed up and died out, back in the '70s.
Interesting art., G.
BR,md

Thunder22 · #3 01-27-2006, 05:22 PM

I think it's a bunch of crap...

Is Ford going to guarantee a better price on a Ford product than a comparable non-Ford product for every employee? What if an employee receives a non-Ford product as a gift?

This is complete b.s. NO company can dictate to its employees how to spend their money.... it's ridiculous.

I work for 3 television networks, am I only allowed to watch those 3? Of course not....

X5Jay · #4 01-27-2006, 05:52 PM

That's rediculous. How about companies that tell you when to take your vacation - i.e. forced to use vacation time during shutdowns?

rayxi · #5 01-27-2006, 06:58 PM

That's the typical UAW union mentality that's putting the NA auto industry out of business. No wonder Toyota is beating the tar out of the domestic manufacturers.

The policy might make sense if the employees were offered vehicles at cost or even below cost. Even then, where's the individual's freedom of choice for personal purchases? The UAW is acting like they own the workers instead of representing them.

LeMansX5 · #6 01-27-2006, 08:13 PM

UAW has overlived.

lanbrown · #7 01-27-2006, 08:12 PM

All it takes is for someone to get injured crossing the street and before you know it, the legal team at Ford will tell the plant to drop that policy.

Bavarian · #8 01-27-2006, 08:16 PM

That's like the US telling you that you can only have a US girlfriend, and defintely not any other nationality.

rebound · #9 01-27-2006, 11:37 PM

This is just the latest insanity from the UAW/Big Three. You might have missed the story a few months back (ok perhaps it was a year ago!) about the UAW in Detroit not letting the Marines from the local reserve unit park foreign cars in their lot. Previously, they had let the Marines use the lot because it was next door to the parking-limited reserve center. When the news hit the fan, they VERY quickly recinded their "request." I had thought they had had their fill of bad PR, but I guess the factories didn't learn their lesson...

Also, there are millions of stories about people parking either their competing big-three car or (gasp!) their foreign car near a factory, and having it vandalized by the lovely people working there. Maturity is apparently not required for a car factory job.

LeMansX5 · #10 01-28-2006, 12:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rebound

This is just the latest insanity from the UAW/Big Three. You might have missed the story a few months back (ok perhaps it was a year ago!) about the UAW in Detroit not letting the Marines from the local reserve unit park foreign cars in their lot. Previously, they had let the Marines use the lot because it was next door to the parking-limited reserve center. When the news hit the fan, they VERY quickly recinded their "request." I had thought they had had their fill of bad PR, but I guess the factories didn't learn their lesson...

Also, there are millions of stories about people parking either their competing big-three car or (gasp!) their foreign car near a factory, and having it vandalized by the lovely people working there. Maturity is apparently not required for a car factory job.

I just don't understand the purpose of unions anymore. UAW, ALPA, etc. This is a different age we live in.