Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) claims it is “at the limit” of what it can offer its unionized employees in terms of economic concessions, an executive said Thursday as contract negotiations continue for roughly 57,000 U.S. workers.
Kumar Galhotra, who heads the company’s traditional operations, said that while the company is willing to shuffle money around within the existing offer to meet the union’s priorities, any added costs would hurt the automaker’s ability to operate in the future and invest in emerging areas such as electric vehicles.
“We’ve been very clear that we are at the limit. We stretched to get to this point,” Galhotra said Thursday during a media and analyst call. “Going further will hurt our ability to invest in the business like we need to invest.”
Galhotra declined to disclose how much the company’s current offer to the union would cost the company.
His comments come a day after the union unexpectedly launched a strike at the automaker’s highly profitable SUV and pickup truck plant in Kentucky.
UAW President Shawn Fain said Wednesday night that the strike escalation was a result of the company repeating its previous offer instead of offering additional economic benefits.
“This offer was the exact same offer they gave us two weeks ago. In our position, they’re not taking it seriously,” Fain said.
Ford’s most recent proposal included 23%-26% wage increases depending on classification; retention of platinum health care benefits; ratification bonuses; reinstatement of cost-of-living; and other benefits.
F shares dished off three cents to begin trading Friday at $11.97.
