Bill Ford says health care co-op possible in union negotiations

In addition to the health care issue, Ford Motor has complained that its labor costs have ballooned above those of its domestic competitors because it isn’t subject to the same terms in a wage system that has enabled the Detroit Three to hire 39,150 workers in the past four years.

Higher costs

Ford’s average U.S. labor cost, including benefits, is about $57 an hour, $10 more than at the U.S. operations of Fiat Chrysler or Toyota Motor Corp. and $2 more than GM, according to the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Ford has Detroit’s most expensive labor contract because it didn’t seek bankruptcy protection in 2009 like the predecessors of GM and Fiat Chrysler. Those companies have since been allowed to hire as many so-called second-tier employees as they want at starting pay of $15.78 an hour, while only a limited slice of the workforce at Dearborn, Mich.-based Ford can be paid less than the $28.50 rate for veteran workers.

The union will soon pick one automaker to negotiate with exclusively to set the pattern of major economic terms for all three companies. Ford is aiming to be that company to get its costs back in line with those of GM and Fiat Chrysler.

—With assistance from Jeff Green in Southfield, Mich.