BUSINESS BRIEFS
Ford says wages pact 'in ballpark' of parity
Advertiser news services
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DETROIT — Ford Motor Co. said yesterday that recent modifications to its contract with the United Auto Workers union will help the company get closer to parity with wages paid in the United States by overseas-based automakers.
In a conference call to review changes to the 2007 collective bargaining agreement, Ford said its labor and benefit costs will total $55 an hour by the end of the year, compared with estimates of $48 to $49 at foreign automakers' plants in the U.S.
"We looked at transplants and our European divisions, and that drove us to a certain target with the UAW," Joe Hinrichs, group vice president of global manufacturing and labor affairs for Ford, said during a conference call regarding the changes.
"We looked at our cost structure with how we were making profits in other parts of the world," he said.
"We're working with what we know works."
Hinrichs said that Ford believes labor costs at foreign transplants' operations are rising, so the $55 cost gets it "within the ballpark."
UAW members approved the concessions in voting ending Monday, with 59 percent of Ford's production workers and 58 percent of skilled-trades workers voting for the concessions.
At least two local unions rejected the measures.
RISING DEFICIT SETS FEBRUARY RECORD
WASHINGTON — Lower tax revenue and massive government spending on the bank bailout pushed the federal deficit to $765 billion in the first five months of the budget year, well on its way to hitting the Obama administration's projection of a record imbalance of $1.75 trillion for the year.The Treasury Department also said yesterday that the February deficit reached $192.8 billion. That's a record for the month and up 10 percent from a year ago, but below analysts' expectations of $205.7 billion.
FREDDIE MAC WILL ASK FOR $31B MORE
WASHINGTON — Freddie Mac said yesterday it will ask for nearly $31 billion in additional government aid after posting a loss of more than $50 billion last year as the U.S. housing market worsened.The mortgage finance company posted a loss of $23.9 billion, or $7.37 per share, in the fourth quarter of 2008. That compares with a loss of $2.5 billion, or $3.97 a share, in the year-ago period.
The recent loss was driven by $13.2 billion in hedged trades, plus billions in credit losses from the declining housing market from writedowns of the value of its mortgage-backed securities.
MERRILL LYNCH BONUS RULING DUE
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo filed a request yesterday that a judge end a temporary confidentiality order that keeps private the details of bonuses paid to Merrill Lynch & Co. employees just before the firm was sold to Bank of America Corp.A judge is scheduled to determine tomorrow if the temporary order that keeps individual bonus information confidential should be made permanent.
