Ford kills preferential parking plan
Workers in competitors’ models will not face longer walk from lot
Ford of Canada’s corporate headquarters moved rapidly Monday to kill a proposed new policy that would have required Windsor employees who don’t drive Ford vehicles to park in segregated areas only.
But for Ford workers in Windsor who prefer a Kia Sorrento, BMW 328i or even a Windsor-built Dodge Grand Caravan, it’s once again OK to park anywhere they want on company parking lots.
“FORD VEHICLES ONLY Beyond This Point” read the signs in the employee parking area closest to the workplace entrances at the company’s Windsor engine facility. Blue and white “NON-FORD VEHICLE PARKING” signs were posted in an area farthest from the plant for workers who don’t drive a Ford.
One employee said discussion on social media and on the plant floor heated up late last week after word of the new parking segregation policy began getting out. Workers said they were advised the new policy would be implemented July 1, with possible sanctions including the towing away of non-Ford vehicles for repeated non-compliance.
“I believe you should drive a Ford if you work for Ford,” said Ford Fusion driver John D’Agnolo, who is also president of Unifor Local 200.
D’Agnolo, whose local represents about 1,400 local Ford workers, said Windsor was simply catching up to Ford facilities elsewhere where “preferred parking ” is offered to those who arrive for work in a Ford.
Late Monday afternoon, Ford of Canada communications manager Michelle Lee- Gracey, responding to a query by the Star, said in an email that “the company has not announced a new parking policy.”
But D’Agnolo told the Star earlier in the day that the parking initiative was “company-driven — they came to us.” A worker told the Star the new parking rules were announced at Thursday’s midnight shift, and the signs were going up.
“Any signs will be removed,” Lee-Gracey stated in a followup email Monday night.
Local Ford workers said the proposed policy would have seen up to three warning letters posted on the windshields of non-Ford vehicles parked in Ford-only parking areas. After that, offending vehicles would either get “booted” or towed away.
“It’s been quite the conversation around here — some are in favour of it, some are totally against it,” said Jeff, a Ford worker in Windsor who asked that his last name not be used.
“I think it’s just ridiculous,” he said.
As a coach with kids in hockey and football, and with a wife who works at FCA Canada’s Windsor Assembly Plant, Jeff drives a locally built Chrysler minivan. He said his wife drives the family’s Ford Escape.
“If you don’t drive a Ford, they’re putting you out at the fence,” he said.
Contacted Monday evening after the nixing of the apparent new parking policy, Jeff said he was “absolutely” glad. “We’ve got bigger things to worry about — I don’t think we need this division in the plant.”
He pointed out that one employee on Monday had parked his Cadillac right under one of the “Ford Vehicles Only” signs.
It was just over a decade ago, at a time when Ford announced it was closing down plants and shedding thousands of jobs in response to big quarterly losses, that the Dearborn Truck Plant in Michigan decided it did not want non-Ford vehicles where they could be seen in employee parking lots. Ford of Canada’s Oakville assembly plant also discussed the possibility.
But the latest attempt at segregated parking came after Ford, the nation’s top-selling vehicle company, announced its best Canadian sales month since 1989, with 34,486 units sold in May.
Ford employees driving a car or truck built by a competitor were “still going to park in the parking lot — they’re going to park in a section where the non-Ford vehicles are,” said Unifor’s D’Agnolo.
While Fiat Chrysler Automobiles has “some facilities” with preferred parking for employees who drive company name brands, FCA Canada spokeswoman LouAnn Gosselin told the Star that, in Windsor, “it’s first-come, first-serve” regardless of a vehicle’s origin.
“It’s fair to say if you drive by our lots, there’s a disproportionate number of Chrysler products,” said Gosselin. “Our employees have pride in the products that are providing for their families.”
The same holds true at Windsor Engine, where Ford vehicles dominated the parking lot Monday.
“I believe you should drive a Ford if you work at Ford,” said D’Agnolo.