The Detroit Free Press says that today,
Ford Motor Co.
will give us a peek into its future. The future, some analysts say,
will inevitably include closing some plants. We should find out which
ones and
how many thousands of jobs could be involved.
Late last week, the most frequently mentioned estimate was that Ford would cut 25,000 jobs. This is big-time news for one of
America's big-name manufacturers.
The story already began unfolding on the pages of Detroit and national newspapers this morning:
Only a couple of weeks ago, Moody's Investors Service cut Ford's financial ratings to just above "junk" status.
It goes beyond the
plants themselves, of course, to the hundreds of smaller parts
suppliers around the country. A quick call to your state economic
development office might produce some names of smaller companies in
your state that do business with Ford -- many of which you've probably
never heard of.
The Free Press said:
Union workers are
planning to gather in plants across the country Monday morning to learn
the fate of their facilities on a telecast from Dearborn.
Analysts say they expect Ford to close four or five of its 18 assembly plants in North America as well as several plants that build parts.
While there is disagreement among the experts, most of the attention has focused on assembly plants in Wixom, [Mich.]; St. Louis; St. Paul, Minn.; Atlanta, and Cuautitlan, Mexico.
Wherever you are, it might be worth dropping by a United Auto Workers hall to watch the telecast with workers.
Bloomberg reported:
Ford had 122,877
employees in its North American auto operations at the end of 2004,
including 35,000 salaried employees. General Motors Corp., Ford's
bigger U.S. rival, has 142,000 auto employees in the U.S., with 36,000 salaried workers. GM doesn't break out North American numbers.
"The plan will include a great deal of white-collar job cuts,'' [David] Cole, [chairman of the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich.], said. "Ford's white-collar employment is similar to GM's, meaning it's disproportionately high.''
Ford is also scheduled to disclose its fourth-quarter earnings on Jan. 23, three hours before the restructuring announcement.
The company is expected to report fourth-quarter earnings
of 1 cent a share, the average estimate of 17 analysts polled by
Thomson Financial. The figure excludes costs the company considers
one-time items. Ford in the past has classified job-cutting expenses as
one-time items.
Ford said last
month it expects to report a pretax gain of $1.1 billion to $1.3
billion for the quarter from the sale of Hertz Corp. to an investor
group including Carlyle Group, Clayton, Dubilier & Rice and a
Merrill Lynch & Co. buyout unit.
Part of Ford's future
is also linked to new Ford models. At the recent auto show, people were
pretty excited about -- are you ready for this? -- a new Fairlane
station wagon. It is the minivan reinvented. Is there that much nostalgia for the Fairlane to name a key new product after it?
Automobilemag.com has lots of photos and details of the new Fairlane.
Beating the Homeless
The Associated Press says the case of the Florida teens who beat up some helpless homeless men
a couple of weeks ago is a symptom of a much larger problem. What would
you find if you went and listened closely to homeless people -- and the
people who serve them most -- in your town?
The AP story said:
From Florida to Alaska, dozens of homeless people are attacked each year, most often by white men under 20, according to the Washington-based National Coalition for the Homeless. Baseball bats are a favored weapon, as well as rocks, bricks, fists and feet, pellet guns and knives.
The story added:
The National Coalition for the Homeless has documented 386 attacks
on the homeless over the past six years, including 156 deaths. Of the
total number of attacks, 211 have been recorded since 2002.
The real numbers are probably much higher, because homeless people
often cannot or will not go to the police, and the analysis is not an
exhaustive look at every jurisdiction in the country, said Michael
Stoops, executive director of the homeless coalition.
"Homeless people just take it on the chin and move to a more secluded area," Stoops said. "We know that this is underreported."
Advocates for the homeless say that in most cases, the attackers
beat up the homeless for kicks, or out of contempt for the down-and-out.
"They do this because they think they can, that they can get away
with beating a homeless person and nobody will care, and the homeless
won't be able to fight back," Stoops said.
Many homeless people say they live in fear of attack every night and
often try to sleep somewhere well-lit or at least well-traveled.
The National Coalition for the Homeless generated this map listing the number of "hate crimes" reported against homeless people in 2004.
Here are the details of the cases behind the numbers on the map.
The Web site of the National Coalition for the Homeless said, in a Jan. 19 statement:
Hidden from most Americans, however, is the number of shocking
crimes committed nationwide against people experiencing homelessness
each year.
Homeless men, women and children around the nation are particularly
vulnerable to crimes against them because they represent an easy,
visible, susceptible target and often lack a place to retreat for
safety and protection. Across the nation, people experiencing
homelessness, advocates, and service providers report an alarming
epidemic of hate crimes and violent murders, arson, harassment, and
damage of personal property. Thrill seekers, primarily in their teens
and early twenties, are the most common perpetrators of the violence.
This trend has been exacerbated by the proliferation of "Bum Videos" in
which homeless people are coerced to perform degrading and dangerous
stunts for money, alcohol or food.
There is so much that
we, along with Congress, can do to protect one of the most vulnerable
populations in our society. We send our deepest condolences to
the family, friends, and acquaintances of the most recent victim of
hate-crime violence against people experiencing homelessness, as well
as everyone else living on the streets that has fallen victim to such
outrageous violent conditions.
Since 1999, the
National Coalition for the Homeless has spearheaded an investigative
analysis of crimes against people experiencing homelessness, much like
the Fort Lauderdale attack. For more information about this issue, read our 2004 hate-crimes report Hate, Violence and Death on Main Street USA, 2004.
In this report, NCH gathered research and data concerning hate-crimes
against people living on the streets in 2004 throughout the
country. The report for 2005 will be released in the coming weeks.
Ick on the Keyboard
With the flu season upon us, it is a good time to remind people about cleaning their computer keyboards and mouses, especially if they work at a computer with multiple users.
In 2002, BizJournals.com (the home site of American City Business Journals) reported about a University of Arizona study, conducted that same year, that measured the high bacteria levels growing on people's desks:
The study, the first of its kind to measure normal bacterial levels inside offices across America,
found paper isn't all that's piling up on desks. In fact, the average
desk harbors 400 times more bacteria than the average toilet seat.
"For bacteria, a desk
is really the laptop of luxury," said [University of Arizona researcher
Charles] Gerba. "They can feast all day from breakfast to lunch and
even dinner."
Gerba and his
researchers found that unless desks were wiped clean with a
disinfectant during the day, bacteria levels climbed higher and higher,
peaking after lunch.
The study found that
surfaces in personal work areas such as offices and cubes, had higher
bacteria levels than surfaces in common areas. Telephones came in as
the favorite home for office germs, followed by desks, water fountain
handles, microwave door handles and computer keyboards. Surprisingly,
toilet seats consistently had the lowest bacteria levels of the 12
surfaces tested in the study.
"We don't think twice
about eating at our desks, even though the average desk has 100 times
more bacteria than a kitchen table and 400 times more bacteria than the
average toilet," Gerba said. "Without cleaning, a small area on your
desk or phone can sustain millions of bacteria that could potentially
cause illness."
In 2004, the University of Arizona published another study showing that people generally did not know where they were most likely to come in contact with germs. The study said:
- Sixty-four percent of the public thought that a public restroom
doorknob has more germs than an ATM but -- surprise! -- ATMs have more
germs.
- Most people are unaware that the kitchen sink is one of the
germiest places in the house; it's even more contaminated with bacteria
than the toilet bowl and garbage can.
- Most people aren't aware that their office desks,
computer keyboards, and elevator buttons in their office buildings are
"germier" than the toilet seat at work.
- Surprisingly, outdoor port-o-potties are actually cleaner than
picnic tables, shopping cart handles, escalator handles, and playground
equipment. Playground equipment is the dirtiest of the bunch,
presenting a health danger to children. Only nine percent of
respondents identified playground equipment as the germiest of outdoor
items.
Report Says Uninsured Less Likely to Get Transplants
ABC News reported:
It's the harsh
reality of the organ transplant field: Patients who are uninsured or
unable to pay are sometimes denied lifesaving treatment because
hospitals can't afford to foot the bill for the surgery or the
extensive recovery.
We are always looking for your great ideas. Send Al a few sentences and hot links.
Editor's Note: Al's
Morning Meeting is a compendium of ideas, edited story excerpts and
other materials from a variety of Web sites, as well as original
concepts and analysis. When the information comes directly from another
source, it will be attributed and a link will be provided whenever
possible.
