Working Conditions in Ford Plants
Following the adoption of our Code, our first step was to develop and implement a process for assessing our owned-and-operated facilities' compliance with the Code. Our next step was to expand that process to include majority- and minority-owned joint venture operations.
Ford Facility Assessment Process
We have continued to refine the process for assessing Ford facilities' compliance with our Code since we conducted our first pilot assessment in late 2004. (See last year's report for more information.)
Today, the process includes a questionnaire to be completed by facility management and a detailed review of documents related to the full range of working conditions issues (e.g., collective bargaining agreements, grievance procedure logs, employee hotline records and health and safety audit reports). The findings of both of these serve as the basis for interviews with facility management.
Where procedures and/or documentation are lacking, or where we feel it would otherwise be valuable, the assessments also include facility visits. The findings of the assessments are initially shared with human rights organizations with which Ford works and then published on our Web site. We have sought the opinions of neutral third parties who have visited plants and/or reviewed the assessment process, and they have agreed that the process is robust and has integrity.
Since 2004, we have conducted a total of eight formal assessments of Ford facilities, three of which were in joint venture facilities. During 2006, we conducted assessments at our owned facility in Tamil Nadu, India, and at joint venture facilities in Changan, China, and Otosan Kocaeli, Turkey, in which Ford owns a 35% and 41% stake, respectively. The findings were generally consistent with those from previous assessments and confirmed that Ford's wholly and majority-owned facilities are operating in compliance with our Code. The full reports are available on our Web site.
We have received considerable and consistent positive feedback from external stakeholders about the policies and systems in place at Ford facilities. While both our and our stakeholders' confidence in our systems is high, we nonetheless believe it is important to continue conducting the assessments given that conditions can change and new issues emerge.
Next Steps
In 2007, we plan to conduct assessments in select Ford facilities in South Africa, Brazil and Russia. In addition to providing the usual insight into working conditions in these facilities, these assessments will give us our first opportunities to evaluate compliance with the new elements of our Code. For example, to better understand performance related to the added "community engagement and indigenous populations" element, we intend to engage with members of the local communities as part of planned site visits.
We are also taking steps to align the community engagement efforts related to our Code with our exploration of new approaches to personal mobility in developing countries. Specifically, we plan to conduct extensive stakeholder engagement with new and existing partners, community members and others to help us understand the mobility needs, opportunities and challenges in those locations.
