Ford Apprenticeship

Cincinnati, OH: (Dec-26-07) A class action lawsuit was brought against Ford Motor Co., alleging that the company's apprenticeship program was fraught with racial bias. The suit was similar to a 2005 case filed against the company over its apprenticeship rules. The new suit, filed by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), claimed that written tests used by Ford and the United Auto Workers in a jointly administered apprenticeship program initiated at Ford's Sharonville transmission plant, discriminated against African-Americans. As part of a settlement reached, the company agreed to pay $1.6 million to the nearly 700 African-American workers nationally employed by Ford's former Visteon parts subsidiary who were excluded from the original case. Apart from the payout, the agreement calls for 55 African-Americans who took the test to be placed on apprentice lists and development of a new selection method for the apprenticeship program. [THE ENQUIRER: RACIAL BIAS]