Ford Motor Co. plans to add 7,000 jobs over the next two years in the United States a target set early this year as it expects the world’s largest economy to avoid another recession. Hit the jump to read the rest of the story.
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Ford is discussing adding as many as 10,000 jobs in the U.S. in negotiations with the United Auto Workers (UAW) union on a new four-year contract, according to three people familiar with the talks. Mulally, who was in Thailand Thursday, declined to comment on the progress of discussions with the UAW.
In January, Ford said it would add the 7,000 jobs in 2011 and 2012. According to its 2010 annual report, there were 75,000 employees at Ford North America.
The discussion about creating 10,000 jobs is part of high-level negotiations between Ford and UAW President Bob King over wages, benefits, and employment gains in the new contract and is still subject to change, said the people, who asked not to be identified revealing internal deliberations.
Another source with knowledge of the talks told Automotive News on Wednesday that the 10,000 jobs figure was “not accurate.”
The U.S. automaker’s plan to recruit more workers comes as President Barack Obama seeks to rally support for his $447 billion proposal to boost hiring. With U.S. unemployment stuck at 9.1 percent last month and the economy growing at a 1.3 percent annual rate in the second quarter, jobs will be a central issue as Obama campaigns for re-election in 2012.
“We’re still seeing economic expansion,” Mulally said. “It is relatively less than we’ve had following previous recessions. But clearly the recession we went through is the worst that we’ve had since the Depression, so we’re very encouraged by the recovery.”
Mulally was in Thailand to attend the production debut of Ford’s Ranger pickup truck at a local plant.
