Ford announces 3000 further global job cuts

A DAY after Ford Australia announced it would terminate the contracts of 120 Australian employees comes news that Ford Motor Company will eliminate 3000 jobs globally, according to a letter sent to employees yesterday.

The Detroit-based firm is cutting 2000 salaried positions and 1000 agency jobs, CEO and executive chairman Jim Farley said. Affected employees in Canada, India and the United States are expected to be notified this week.

According to a report published by Automotive News, the job cuts are expected across a variety of roles, including purchasing and procurement, and are expected to come from both the Ford Blue (internal combustion) and Model e (electric) divisions.

Job cuts are also being made at Ford Credit, the publication confirmed.

Mr Farley said that Ford is cutting the jobs as part of a larger restructuring of the organisation, and that it is preparing to reorganise and simplify functions within the firm’s global structure.

“Building this future requires changing and reshaping virtually all aspects of the way we have operated for more than a century,” said Mr Farley.

“It requires focus, clarity and speed. And, as we have discussed in recent months, it means redeploying resources and addressing our cost structure, which is uncompetitive versus traditional and new competitors.

“None of this changes the fact that this is a difficult and emotional time. The people leaving the company this week are friends and co-workers and we want to thank them for all they have contributed to Ford.

“We have a duty to care for and support those affected – and we will live up to this duty — providing not only benefits but significant help to find new career opportunities.”

It’s the second time in as many months that Ford has announced significant reductions in its global workforce.

In July, Ford Motor Company announced that it would cut as many as 8000 salaried positions from its ICE division, Ford Blue.

Likely to begin within the coming months, the job cuts are part of a reshaping of the organisation, Ford CEO Jim Farley said were necessary to help finance the company’s EV ambitions and to boost profits the company has lost to the development of the Mustang Mach-E and other plug-in models amid rising commodity and warranty costs.

“We have too many people (and) this management team firmly believes that our ICE and BEV portfolios are under-earning,” said Mr Farley.

“The funding for that $50 billion, it’s all based on our core automotive operations. That’s why we created a separate group called Ford Blue, because we need them to be more profitable to fund this.”

In line with its global resilience plans, Ford Australia laid off 120 salaried staff, hourly and contractor workers from its product development and design times this week, leaving approximately 2300 people employed at the Blue Oval locally.

“In Australia, we’re reaching the next phase of our product development and launch cycle and as a result will be reducing our contract workforce by approximately 120 in our Product Development and Design teams,” a Ford Australia spokesperson told GoAuto earlier this week.

“Contract workforce levels regularly change at Ford, based on our product development cycle.”