WSJ Says Major Ford Announcement Today

NEW YORK September 13, 2006; Reuters reported that Ford Motor Co. will announce on Wednesday a massive corporate restructuring that will lower white-collar costs by 30 percent and include cutting jobs and benefits, according to the online version of The Wall Street Journal.

The moves, which the Journal said will be announced at Ford's board of directors meetings, will also include a new pricing strategy.

Ford spokesman Oscar Suris had no comment on the report. He said the automaker would announce its revised restructuring plan later this month. "We're going to do it in a public fashion," he said.

No. 2 automaker Ford has already announced plans to cut 30,000 factory jobs and close 14 plants by 2012.

United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger said Ford management had not informed him whether the company would offer the kind of sweeping buyout offer made earlier this year by General Motors Corp.

Until now, Ford has targeted specific plants for early retirement offers and only several thousand UAW-represented workers have accepted the buyouts, Gettelfinger said on Tuesday at the Reuters Auto Summit in Detroit.