Auto plant no-shows

[Charles Brown <cbrown@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

        Auto plant no-shows

        Ford Motor Co. Is cracking down on excessive absenteeism at its
plants, no longer waiting for a fifth incidence of truancy to mete out
punishment. Is the tougher stance on absenteeism justified?

        http://www.detnews.com/2004/autosinsider/0409/09/a01-268458.htm




        DEARBORN - Ford Motor Co. <javascript:companybox('F')>  and the
United Auto Workers are cracking down on chronic absenteeism in an attempt
to reduce soaring costs that are chipping away at the automaker's bottom
line.

        Ford is targeting habitual no-shows with warning letters, local
union bosses are urging line workers to shape up and plant managers are
toughening disciplinary practices against employees who fail to show up on a
whim.

        Despite making major productivity strides in recent years, Detroit's
automakers have been unable to significantly reduce absenteeism, an
enormously costly and disruptive problem.

        Absenteeism among hourly workers in the automotive industry runs
about 10 percent annually, about three times higher than in other
industries, according to a study published this year by the Automotive
Supplier Action Committee, a trade group. At some Big Three plants,
absenteeism runs as high as 20 percent.

        The figures include vacations, paid personal days off and medical
leave, but the most crippling problem is employees who just skip work.
Managers must scramble to find hundreds of replacements from pools of
fill-in workers to perform tasks for which they may not be trained.

        During last year's contract talks, the UAW agreed to work with Ford,
General Motors Corp. <javascript:companybox('GM')>  and DaimlerChrysler AG
<javascript:companybox('DCX')> 's Chrysler Group to crack down on no-shows.
Now at several Ford plants, a tough message is going out to workers.

        At Ford's truck factory in Louisville, Ky., where F-Series Super
Duty pickups are produced, a union bulletin in June warned that Ford no
longer would wait for a fifth incidence of truancy to mete out punishment.

        "You could be subject to discipline on your very first absence," the
bulletin said.

        A similar crackdown is expected to spread to the automaker's nearby
Louisville assembly plant, where Ford produces the Explorer and Mercury
Mountaineer sport utility vehicles.

        At Ford's Rouge complex, a union update distributed to some workers
last month laid out the issue in stark terms.

        "The number of employees that are absent in this plant every day is
a problem," the bulletin said. "We have to come to work or we may not have a
job to come to."

        Automakers and many UAW workers say there is no excuse for high
absenteeism. Line workers receive up to five weeks of vacation and 17 paid
holidays. When plants are idled for retooling or slow sales, workers also
collect pay. "Sick days" are not provided and are supposed to come out of
vacation time unless it's a prolonged illness that requires a leave.

        "I've never seen it this bad," said Rufus McWilliams, a Ford
employee for 31 years who now works in the paint shop at Rouge's Dearborn
Truck plant - home of the popular Rouge factory tour. "A lot of younger
workers just don't want to go by the schedule. It's a different mind-set
with some of these guys."

        Ford says absenteeism has remained fairly steady in recent years.
But there's no doubt the automaker is taking a tougher line against the
relatively small number of workers who are creating most of the problem.
Ford said 12 percent of hourly workers account for nearly half of all
absenteeism.

        "Management is focusing on absenteeism as one way to help the
company," said Ford spokeswoman Marcey Evans. "It's not because we think
it's a bigger issue. We're looking at it as waste in the system. Absenteeism
causes a lot of waste."

        Floyd Brooks, a 26-year Ford veteran who feeds parts to main
assembly lines at the Rouge truck plant, said absenteeism is nothing new.
But Ford has beefed up enforcement by cracking down on bogus doctor notes
and questioning suspicious illnesses.

        "If you're not actually real hurt," he said, "they're not going to
buy it."

        Under a pilot program, Ford is drafting a warning letter intended
for chronic offenders at various plants. Such warnings have been effective
before, Evans said.

        Ford, however, said there it will not factor in absenteeism in
determining future production plans.

        In an era of paper-thin auto profit margins, absenteeism presents an
opportunity to wring out savings. Every percentage point of absenteeism in
GM's factories cost the company $125 million a year, Chrysler said the cost
per percentage point is about $60 million year. The story is similar at
Ford.

        In Norfolk, Va., where Ford builds its popular F-150 pickup, total
absenteeism has an annual price tag of $9 million, according to a newsletter
distributed to employees in April.

        Japanese automakers, which experience less absenteeism on average,
employ a carrot-and-stick approach to encourage good attendance, rewarding
workers with superior records. Honda Motor Co.
<javascript:companybox('HMC')> 's Ohio plants offer bonuses of up to $2,600
annually, but workers who do not maintain a 98 percent attendance rate are
put into counseling programs.

        Toyota Motor Co. <javascript:companybox('TM')> p.'s Georgetown, Ky.,
plant conducts drawings for employees with perfect attendance. The prizes:
free vehicles.

        The labor contract between Detroit automakers and the UAW protects
workers stricken with personal crises such as substance abuse - a frequent
cause of absenteeism - but can also prolong their problems, said Maryland
psychologist Michael Walsh.

        "From a social responsibility perspective, trying to deal with these
folks is a good thing to do," said Walsh, founder of the Walsh Group and an
adviser on drug abuse policy to the Bush administration. "But from a
business perspective, taking a hard line is more reasonable."

        During last year's contract talks, Chrysler sought and won stricter
disciplinary practices to lower absenteeism. The new contract reduced the
limit of unexcused absences from 12 to eight before a worker gets an unpaid
month off. Previously, it took nine no-shows to get a written warning.

        Since the policy went into effect in December, the company has
noticed a decline in absenteeism at its Warren truck plant, site of Dodge
pickup production. But the reduction in absenteeism is attributed to the
establishment of a third shift, which reduced overtime, said spokeswoman
Mary Beth Halprin.

        Burnout triggered by prolonged overtime is a prime cause of
unauthorized absenteeism. Similarly, inexperience with the rigors of factory
life can be overwhelming.

        The work force at Ford's Dearborn truck plant has risen by 300 to
2,400 so the automaker could accommodate production of its hot-selling F-150
pickup. But many of the plant's new workers transferred from component
plants where the pace of production is less taxing, said Jerry Sullivan,
president of UAW Local 600.

        "It's going to take a while for people to get in the groove there,"
Sullivan said, adding the union is working with Ford to smooth the
transition for these workers.

        Ford's effort to reduce absenteeism comes at a time when its
automotive operations are battling back.

        While no one disputes that absenteeism in an issue, some UAW
officials challenge the way rates are calculated. Ed Hay, UAW chairman at
Ford's Norfolk plant, said estimates that absenteeism at the plant costs the
company $9 million a year are misleading.

        "The company's actual numbers are not an accurate measure of what's
going on," Hay said. "I've looked at (the numbers) very closely. They take
into account people's calendar days off - for personal leave or vacation, as
well as medical leaves of absence - and they roll it all into one ball
called absenteeism."

                Detroit News Staff Writer Christine Tierney contributed to
this report. You can reach Eric Mayne at (313) 222-2443 or
emayne@xxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:emayne@xxxxxxxxxxx>