Sektor Otomotif kedodoran

Sektor otomotif, meski tidak terkena dampak subprime mortgage, tetapi mengalami situasi sulit juga.

Pertama, kenaikan harga minyak yang hampir mendekati 100 dolar AS/barrel pasti akan memukul biaya produksi.

Kedua, gelombang pemogokan karyawan yang menuntut kenaikan upah dan kondisi kerja, menunjukkan persoalan serius dalam hal hubungan perburuhan.

Ford, U.S. Auto Union Agree on Contract, Avoid Strike

By Bill Koenig and John Lippert

Nov. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Ford Motor Co. and the union representing its 54,000 U.S. factory workers agreed on a new contract today, bringing a third labor deal to Detroit's automakers after more than three months of negotiations.

Ford and the United Auto Workers announced the four-year agreement in separate statements after bargaining for more than 36 straight hours through early today.

The accord means the second-largest U.S. automaker will avoid the strikes the union called before reaching agreements with General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC. Ford said its deal will create an independent trust to manage retiree health care, the centerpiece of the accords at GM and Chrysler.

``Our goals for this contract were to win new product and investment, to enhance job security and protect seniority -- and we made progress in all these areas,'' said UAW Vice President Bob King, who led the bargaining at Ford, in its statement.

Chief Executive Officer Alan Mulally sought a contract that would reduce labor costs for Dearborn, Michigan-based Ford, which lost a record $12.6 billion in 2006.

Details were withheld until a ratification vote by Ford's union members. About 66 percent of GM's production workers and 56 percent of Chrysler's approved their contracts.

The GM and Chrysler health-care funds will take billions of dollars of obligations off the companies' books and help close a compensation gap with Toyota Motor Corp. The Japanese automaker has passed Ford and Chrysler in U.S. sales and is threatening to overtake GM as No. 1 in the world.

GM agreed to provide $29.9 billion in funding and Chrysler $8.8 billion. The contracts also provided guarantees of future work at UAW-represented plants, with some of GM's commitments extending beyond the 2011 expiration date.

Strikes

GM reached its settlement on Sept. 26 after a two-day strike. Chrysler, the U.S. automaker owned by private-equity firm Cerberus Capital Management LP, came to an agreement with the union following a six-hour walkout on Oct. 10.

Chrysler, announced plans on Nov. 1 to almost double planned job cuts, five days after its workers ratified their UAW contract.

The company, which lost $680 million last year, will fire as many as 12,100 more employees through 2008, after saying in February that it would eliminate 13,000 positions over three years.

Ford may make additional job and spending cuts because of declining U.S. sales, three people familiar with the strategy said yesterday.

The company may pare additional hourly and salaried positions on top of 40,000 announced last year, two of the people said. Some departments may see budget reductions of as much as 25 percent, the two people said.

Soft Market

Deeper cuts are ``justified on the basis that the market is soft right now,'' said David Cole, chairman of the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Ford's U.S. sales are down 13 percent this year, and the industry is headed to its lowest total since 1998.

Tom Hoyt, a spokesman for the Dearborn, Michigan, automaker, declined to comment on potential cuts..

Ford's inability to stop a 12-year slide in U.S. market share is threatening Mulally's plan to restore profit in 2009. Ford last year borrowed $23.4 billion to pay for cutting jobs and closing plants while investing in new cars and trucks to win back buyers.

The three automakers, all based in metropolitan Detroit, began negotiations in late July to replace contracts that were to expire Sept. 14. In June, Ford said it had 58,500 UAW employees. Its workforce has been shrinking because of buyouts.

To contact the reporters on this story: Bill Koenig in Southfield, Michigan, at wkoenig@bloomberg.net ; John Lippert in Southfield, Michigan, at jlippert@bloomberg.net