Ford will extend worker buyout offers - By John Lippert and Bill Koenig, BLOOMBERG NEWS
Ford Motor Co., slashing production in the wake of a decade-long drop in U.S. market share, is preparing to extend buyout offers to all of its factory workers in North America, according to two people with knowledge of the plan.
The step would reverse Ford's strategy of 'targeted' offers at specific plants and echo General Motors Corp.'s companywide offers of buyouts and early retirements, which helped GM shed a third of its United Auto Workers union employees this year. Ford had 82,000 UAW-represented workers at the end of 2005.