From Detroit Free Press

VAN BUREN TOWNSHIP, MI — About 5,000 salaried workers at Visteon Corp. in North America are to find out if they will be leased to a temporary, new company called Automotive Components Holdings LLC, which will be managed by Ford Motor Co. and contain 23 former Visteon facilities.

“On Wednesday, North American salaried Visteon employees will begin meeting with their managers to learn their assignments,” according to a memorandum from Mike Johnston, chairman and CEO, which was sent to workers early Tuesday after details of the deal between the companies were announced.

Those workers who will be leased to the holding company could be told they are working for Visteon Services, which is how Visteon internally identifies workers who will be employed by Visteon but work for the other company, Visteon spokesman Jim Fisher said.

Visteon, an auto supplier based in Van Buren Township, MI, was spun off from Ford in 2000 and is the nation’s second-largest auto supplier. It employs 70,000 workers in 24 countries.

The news might help bring an end to a long anxious summer for those local workers, many of whom have been awaiting word since May about whether their jobs are safe or whether their assignments might change.

Workers interviewed by the Free Press reported mixed responses to the details of the deal Tuesday.

Some said they were happy that their jobs seemed safe for now, and that they would get a cost-of-living raise on Oct. 1. Others said the news was bittersweet, because they weren’t sure that their jobs would be safe for much longer.

“Initially there was talk of big pay cuts, and it doesn’t seem like that’s going to happen in the immediate future,” said one worker, who wished to remain anonymous because he was worried about his position. “It’s kind of been a cloud over our head.”

Another worker wrote in an e-mail: “We just want it done and over with. … Everyone knows they can be let go at any time. The biggest fear is what will happen with the two companies in the future.”

Neither Ford nor Visteon executives were made available to discuss the changes, and all questions were referred to the companies’ public relations departments.

But it’s clear that whether workers remain at Visteon or end up working for the holding company, more changes are coming.

Automotive Components Holdings is expected to exist for only several years or as long as it takes to sell or close the facilities, said Ford spokeswoman Della DiPietro. She said there have already been inquiries from potential buyers but refused to give details.

The holding company will consist of 23,000 workers — 5,000 salaried workers leased from Visteon and 18,000 hourly UAW workers leased from Ford. Another 70 salaried employees will be leased to the company from Ford.

For the salaried workers leased from Visteon, DiPietro stressed, “This is a temporary assignment. These are not salaried jobs that are being reabsorbed into Ford.”

What’s more, Ford has already set aside $100 million to implement buyouts of 5,000 of those 18,000 hourly Ford-UAW workers who will work for the holding company.

Visteon also expects continued restructuring.

In a statement announcing the deal, Johnston said, “As we move closer to completing this transaction, we are progressing with plans for significant additional restructuring actions over the next several years to achieve our goal of being a winning automotive supplier.”

Johnston gave workers an overview of how the companies will work during a town hall meeting early Tuesday at the company’s headquarters, several workers told the Free Press.

During the meeting, Johnston told them that layoffs would not be necessary right away because so many of their peers have quit since May. But he reportedly refused to make workers any promises about the future. An estimated 1,000 workers have already left, one worker said they were told.

Visteon’s Fisher declined to confirm or deny that figure or any of the remarks attributed to Johnston.

In repeated questioning about future job changes, Fisher said: “We don’t anticipate a major staff reduction in the near future. That does not mean there will not be any layoffs.”

Ford and Visteon said the deal creating the holding company has already received U.S. antitrust and union approvals and will likely be signed Oct. 1. The arrangement calls for moving one less plant than previously announced into the new company.

Visteon has lost a combined $3.2 billion in the last four years. Consequently, Ford, which depends on Visteon parts for its vehicles, decided to bail out the company. Ford expects the Visteon deal will cost an estimated $600 million this year, said Ford spokeswoman Becky Sanch.

2005 The Detroit Free Press. All Rights Reserved.

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