The long term contractors at Ford will tell you that in the past 15 years Ford has cut the rates multiple times. I have had 3 rate cuts. The first 20%, the next 15%, the next 10%.
So let’s say I was earning 65 per hour
The first cut reduced the rate to 52 per hour
The second cut reduced the rate to 44 per hour
The third cut reduced the rate to 39 per hour
Freshers get 35 per hour so all the years of working hard has earned 4 dollars per hour more than a fresher.
Simple math shows you that contracting at Ford is a losing proposition. You have to go contract elsewhere to get your rate back up. Those with family situations that tie them to michigan get stuck.
Now let’s compare the contractor situation to the Ford employee situation. A fresher who was hired at Ford 20 years ago at 35 per hour and every year got the Ford standard increase of 3% is now make 60 per hour for just showing up.
The rift between employees and contractors is often the sense of entitlement the employees feel. They loaf and fritter away Ford’s resources and their salary is guaranteed to increase yearly. In addition they claim the contractors work products as their own.