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Ford CEO Pushes Back After Employees Demand Ford Stop Making Vehicles for Law Enforcement

Ford CEO Pushes Back After Employees Demand Ford Stop Making Vehicles for Law Enforcement

“The issues plaguing police credibility have nothing to do with the vehicles they’re driving,” CEO Jim Hackett wrote to employees.

https://youtu.be/NxLhGjvoeus

Almost immediately in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd, scores of companies lined up to declare how woke and socially aware they were and pledged to do whatever it took to prove they were serious about racial justice.

Ford CEO Jim Hackett and President Bill Ford made their commitment to the cause known in a letter written on June 1st to employees. They both stated, among other things, that “this is our moment to lead from the front and fully commit to creating the fair, just and inclusive culture that our employees deserve:”

There are no easy answers. We are not interested in superficial actions. This is our moment to lead from the front and fully commit to creating the fair, just and inclusive culture that our employees deserve.

[…]

Today is the start of an even deeper dialogue within Ford on these critical issues. We will be meeting with employees across the company, including engaging with the Ford African Ancestry Network (FAAN).

[…]

And while we would like to say that racism has no place in our society, we know that systemic racism still exists despite the progress that has been made. We cannot turn a blind eye to it or accept some sense of “order” that’s based on oppression.

A little over a month later, around 100 Ford Motor Company employees crafted their letter. They asked Hackett and Bill Ford to stop making vehicles for law enforcement officers because “the vehicles that Ford employees design and build have been used as accessories to police brutality and oppression:”

“On May 25, 2020, George Floyd was murdered by Minneapolis Police, alongside a Ford Police Interceptor. Days later, police officers drove Ford Police Interceptors into crowds of protesters in New York City and Los Angeles. During these past weeks, our vehicles have been used to deploy chemical weapons banned by the Geneva Convention.

“Throughout our history, the vehicles that Ford employees design and build have been used as accessories to police brutality and oppression. We know that while many join, support, or supply law enforcement with good intentions, these racist policing practices that plague our society are historic and systemic—a history and system perpetuated by Ford for over 70 years—ever since Ford introduced the first ever police package in 1950. As an undeniable part of that history and system, we are long overdue to ‘think and act differently’ on our role in racism.”

The letter writers went on to state the company “cannot claim to support the fight against systemic racism” and still supply vehicles to police officers:

“We cannot claim to support the fight against systemic racism while supplying and supporting the very systems that perpetrate violence against Black Americans… We, the undersigned employees, call for Ford to cease development, production, and sale of all custom police vehicles and products. Our resources can and should be diverted to other forms of first response and public safety.”

The writers reportedly called for action by July 15th. Still, Hackett has already responded to the circulation of the letter by letting employees know that while the company believes in police accountability and that black lives matter, they have no intentions of stopping production of police vehicles:

Second, we also believe the first responders that protect us play an extraordinarily important role in the vitality and safety of our society. Our world wouldn’t function without the bravery and dedication of the good police officers who protect and serve. But safety of community must be inclusive of all members and today, it is not.

[…]

It’s not controversial that the Ford Police Interceptor helps officers do their job. The issues plaguing police credibility have nothing to do with the vehicles they’re driving. In fact, as we imagine the future power of our connected vehicles, smarter Ford vehicles can be used to not only improve officers’ ability to protect and serve, but also provide data that can make police safer and more accountable. Just think, dating back to the Model T, Ford has more than 100 years in serving first responders and that leadership over the decades has been earned by co-developing our purpose-built vehicles and technologies with police and emergency agencies to make our vehicles the number one choice.

By taking away our Police Interceptors, we would be doing harm to their safety and making it harder for them to do their job. Again, this is why, given our insights, new capabilities and leadership, I believe these unfortunate circumstances present Ford with an even greater opportunity to not only innovate new solutions but also leverage our unique position to support the dialogue and reform needed to create safer communities for all.

For these reasons we will do both: continue to be a powerful voice for Black Lives Matter, holding ourselves accountable for significant change, while also continuing to help keep communities safe by producing Police Interceptors and partnering with law enforcement in new ways to strongly support the safety for all members of society.

PJ Media’s Bryan Preston summed up the CEO’s response perfectly: “Shorter version: No. We’re not going to stop making police cars. Now get back to work.”

— Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym “Sister Toldjah” and can be reached via Twitter. —

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Comments

Are these the same courageous corporate leaders who joined the mob in demanding that Facebook start censoring political speech, in particular the President’s campaign ads?

Gotta start worrying about employee sabotage. Those signatory employees and their staff will now require extra surveillance and quality control inspections.

Better to let them go to work for some other organization.

These people have revealed themselves to be abject morons. They should be summarily fired as a result.

    The Friendly Grizzly in reply to Paul. | July 15, 2020 at 9:56 am

    Good luck with that if they are UAW.

    JusticeDelivered in reply to Paul. | July 15, 2020 at 2:12 pm

    Basically, these Ford employees have empathy for criminals, likely because they have a criminal mentality or they are close related to criminals.

So the woke mob wants Ford to engage in self immolation. Ford is a business and government sales are a vital part of that business.

This corporate kowtowing to the slanderous and fallacious mythology of the “Black Lives Matters” Marxist-propagandists is nauseating. Alleged “pervasive” and “institutionalized” racism is a total lie. The election and subsequent re-election of the bi-racial, pathological narcissist, demagogue, incompetent hustler and utter mediocrity known as “Barack Obama,” proves it, because, it is obvious that the novelty of Obama’s racial composition was quite obviously a major electoral asset, not a hindrance, in his political campaigns, given how much white Dhimmi-crats and the mainstream media gushed over this imbecile and deified him at every opportunity, as a bi-racial Messiah.

Trillions of federal dollars have been poured into urban cities, over decades, to benefit black Americans. Black Americans are the beneficiaries of preferential treatment in job hiring, in school admissions and in contracting awards — benefits conferred to them solely on the basis of their skin pigmentation; benefits denied to other Americans; benefits that should be denied in a truly “color-blind” society striving for true racial equality. Isolated incidents of police conduct involving blacks do not constitute “systemic” racism. I’m sick of this contrived and false narrative.

PJ Media’s Bryan Preston summed up the CEO’s response perfectly: “Shorter version: No. We’re not going to stop making police cars. Now get back to work.”

No, that’s too short. The second sentence is, “But don’t worry, we still really believe in all this BS, we just don’t have the courage of our convictions, so if you leave us alone we’ll join your mob when you lynch someone else.”

100 employees, out of a total of 190,000 employees.

We are becoming a society controlled by the lunatic fringe.

“The issues plaguing police credibility have nothing to do with the vehicles they’re driving,” CEO Jim Hackett wrote to employees.

That’s just evasion. Once you accept the premises of the BLM movement, then making police cars is just like making Zyklon-B for the nazis. You’re an accomplice in their crimes. The problem is not with the reasoning, it’s with the premises. And Hackett continues to insist he believes in those premises. So he’s just being a hypocrite. Have the courage either to stop making police cars, or to say “No, you’re wrong, your whole movement is wrong”.

    I wouldn’t use the term “hypocrite” here. I think “sleazy opportunist” fits better. By supporting BLM Hackett is trying to maintain his street cred with the Marxists (no doubt partly to save his own neck) while at the same time selling to the group the Marxists want to exterminate. In this war Hackett is working both sides, and seems to think no one will notice (or do anything if they do notice).

The words racist, systemic whatever, oppression, police brutality, and of course, black lives matter, are dead giveaways to the positions of the speakers. How lame.

You want fair treatment? Police yourselves: Stop rioting and destroying your own neighborhoods, stop shooting each other, get serious about improving yourselves instead of blaming your problems on others. Until that happens, there’s no reason to take you seriously. And, if you’re able, have patience. Stereotypes take generations to change. Better get started on your own.
.

    notamemberofanyorganizedpolicital in reply to DSHornet. | July 15, 2020 at 1:54 pm

    BLM Butt LICKERS Matter especially corporate ones….

    DaveGinOly in reply to DSHornet. | July 15, 2020 at 4:35 pm

    Black people should stop asking white people to do anything for them or to help. For a people who claim to be strong and proud, the optics are terrible. They appear as a supplicant before his master. Just get your shit together without whitey’s help. Or can they not do that on their own?

    (Of course, most black people have already improved themselves. What we’re hearing comes from three types of people – so-called black “leaders,” the dregs of black society, and progressive white people who see themselves as the saviors of the black community, all of which they believe is oppressed.)

Send a message and fire these malcontents.

    Paul in reply to MAJack. | July 15, 2020 at 11:29 am

    Almost 40 years later, thinking about Reagan firing the striking air traffic controllers still gives me a warm fuzzy feeling.

given the history of some of the Ford police cars specifically the crown vic, I wonder if they would miss them

Dear signatories of the letter urging us to end police contracts,

We at Ford fully support and laud the sacrifices you are willing to make in order to support a cause you believe in.

To that end, we will forego the lucrative contracts to provide police vehicles to police departments in the US. We will, of course, be required to offset the resultant loss of revenue by reducing our workforce by approximately 100 employees.

Please clear out any personal belongings, turn in any company property and ID badges and vacate the premises at the end of your shift. Your final check will be mailed to your home of record at our earliest convenience.

I’m sure your selfless example will be an encouragement to others who are willing and ready to “put their money where their mouth is” and sacrifice their livelihoods in pointless political gestures and virtue signalling.

Kind regards and best wishes,
Ford Management

Any Ford employee who believes it is immoral for Ford to make police vehicles should demonstrate the courage of their convictions and resign.

    Brave Sir Robbin in reply to CalFed. | July 15, 2020 at 12:30 pm

    “Any Ford employee who believes it is immoral for Ford to make police vehicles should demonstrate the courage of their convictions and resign.”

    The point of is not to live by your convictions, but have OTHER people live by your arbitrary diktat. I use the term “arbitrary diktat” because the fascists among us actually have no convictions but act purely from the fun of imposing their will on others.

I wish there was a way for BOTH sides to lose. Hackett’s statement is equivalent to the CEO of a German company proudly flying the swastika flag while at the same making business deals with beleaguered Jews. Talk about working both sides of the street!

texansamurai | July 15, 2020 at 5:27 pm

guess we didn’t all read the same letter–milhouse needs to give bill ford a call and explain what bill’s ceo did wrong

in another life, ran a couple of different ford stores in south texas–one thing learned for certain: though you might actually own the franchise for your store, ford owns the company and they are rather strict as to how they want their dealers, employeees, factory people, vendors, etc. to operate–it is(and has always been) a family enterprise as contrasted with the ” management by committee ” at gm, dmc, toyota, nissan, etc.

ford’s been in business over a century and are one of the few manufacturers on this planet who can truthfully say that their products(especially in the early years) transformed
the world–they have a long and successful tradition

they do not suffer fools lightly–without coming right out and saying so, the letter politely acknowledges the position of the hundred or so employees and then concludes by stating that ” we’re going to keep making cars(sic)”

they have no need to assert their success and superiority as they do indeed(especially the family themselves) live and work in rarefied air

they are arguably one of the most successful auto/manufacturing companies in history–they don’t really have the time to indulge a bunch of racist lunatics and their cause du jour–we’re in the car business and we’re going to keep working at what we do best

Maybe this was the discarded first draft;

We thank yo for your letter. Unfortunately Ford employees are, by contract, represented by UAW. Your group, by failing to utilize UAW channels to present your concerns, appears to indicate your dissatisfaction with UAW. Therefore Ford gas no alternative but to:
1. Present your letter to the UAW as grounds for the unilateral termination of the current contracts between Ford and the UAW.
2. Institute alternative employment opportunities where each workers individual merit will be compensated to reflect their individual contributions to our shared success.
3. Embrace the spirit of your concerns regarding equipping our nation’s Police by adding government vehicles purchased or leased for use by any government entity domestic or foreign. All these orders will be fulfilled at our new non union plants located in Texas.

Thanks for bringing this important matter to our attention.

Sincerely,