[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 9 (Monday, February 7, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S385-S387]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    PRAISING FORD MOTOR COMPANY FOR COMPUTER DONATIONS TO EMPLOYEES

 Mr. ABRAHAM. Mr. President, I rise today to praise Ford Motor 
Company's president and chief executive, Mr. Jacques Nasser, and Ford 
Motor Company's unprecedented gift of a home computer, color printer 
and unlimited access to the Internet to each and every one of Ford's 
350,000 thousand employees worldwide.
  Through this act, Ford Motor Company has shown that it has truly 
recognized the need to provide all Americans with computer and Internet 
access. Not a single Ford employee will be left out of Ford's 
initiative to provide its people with access to the Information Age. To 
its great credit, Ford has recognized that competing in today's high-
tech global marketplace means doing everything possible to secure and 
train a skilled and informed workforce.
  What is more, Mr. President, Ford has recognized that any company 
that wants to continue to succeed must see to it that everyone in its 
workforce, and not just a select few ``specialists'' be fully plugged 
in to the Information Age.
  Mr. President, there is a growing digital divide in this country. 
Although over 40 percent of all households owned computers and one-
quarter had Internet access by the end of 1998, figures show a 
disturbing and significant gap between two growing classes: the 
technical haves and the technical have-nots. This divide is defined by 
income and education levels, race and geographical location.
  Household with incomes of $75,000 and greater are more than twenty 
times more likely to have Internet access in the home than households 
in the lowest income levels. Wealthier

[[Page S386]]

families are nine times as likely to have a computer in the home. 
Whites are more likely than African Americans or Hispanics to have 
Internet access from any location, including work and the home. In 
addition, where a family lives can impact the likelihood of having 
computer and Internet access, regardless of income level. Americans 
living in rural areas are lagging behind in Internet access. Even at 
the lowest income levels, households in urban areas are more than twice 
as likely as their rural counterparts to have Internet access.
  We are all aware that the increasing dominance of computers 
throughout the workplace demands computer proficiency. Right now, 60 
percent of all jobs require high-tech skills. Mr. President, it is only 
through readily available access and consistent use of computers and 
technology that Americans will gain the skills necessary to participate 
and succeed in the New Economy. And, it is only through a skilled and 
educated workforce that the United States will continue to maintain its 
dominance in the New Economy.
  That means, Mr. President, that we cannot afford to leave anyone 
behind in our journey into the New Economy. We will need everyone to 
help us face the tasks ahead. I take this challenge seriously. That is 
why my New Millennium Classrooms Act would give businesses increased 
incentives to donate used but still highly useful computers to our 
schools. It's unconscionable that 32 percent of public schools have 
only one classroom with access to the Internet when U.S. businesses are 
trying to figure out what to do with literally millions of used 
computers. It's also bad policy.
  We need to get everyone onto the information superhighway. And I 
strongly believe, Mr. President, that Ford's exceptional program will 
help us in that effort. It will ensure access to the fundamental tools 
of the digital economy, and that is one of the most significant 
investments in our country that we can make. Ford's initiative not only 
benefits their immediate workforce, but their families and our greater 
communities. I would encourage all of our companies to look closely at 
Ford's contributions and the overwhelming good it creates.
  Again, please allow me to commend Mr. Nasser and Ford Motor Co, for 
their dedication and invaluable contribution.
  I ask that the full texts of the February 4, 2000 Washington Post and 
Detroit News articles be printed in the Record immediately following my 
statement.
  The articles follow:

                [From the Washington Post, Feb. 4, 2000]

                 Ford Offers Home PC To Every Employee

                  (By Warren Brown and Frank Swoboda)

       Ford Motor Co. said yesterday that it will provide every 
     one of its 350,000 employees worldwide with home computers, 
     color printers and unlimited access to the Internet for as 
     little as $5 a month.
       Leapfrogging across the ``digital divide'' that some fear 
     separates wealthy computer users from people unable to afford 
     them, Ford is the first major company to offer every 
     employee, from the loading dock to the boardroom, the tools 
     to participate in the Information Age.
       ``It is clear that individuals and companies that want to 
     be successful in the 21st century will need to be leaders in 
     using the Internet and related technology. That is what this 
     program is all about,'' Chairman Bill Ford said.
       Ford, the nation's second-biggest company in terms of 
     revenue, is betting the estimated $300 million cost of the 
     program will be quickly offset by gains in making all its 
     employees computer literate.
       ``We're committed to serving consumers better by 
     understanding how they think and act,'' said Jacques Nasser, 
     Ford's president and chief executive. ``Having a computer and 
     Internet access in the home will accelerate development of 
     these skills, provide information across our businesses, and 
     offer opportunities to streamline our processes.''
       Ford said it may offset some of its costs by selling 
     advertisements to run on the Internet service its employees 
     will use. But even with that, the ambitious program appears 
     unique in corporate America. Even Microsoft Corp. has nothing 
     similar. And Hewlett-Packard Co., which is supplying the 
     hardware under contract with Ford, provides computers only to 
     employees who need them for work.
       The program results from a contract settlement negotiated 
     last year between the automaker and the United Auto Workers 
     union. But Nasser said the computer program would cover all 
     employees, even those not represented by the UAW. ``We're not 
     leaving out anyone,'' Nasser said.
       Edward Hay, president of UAW Local 919 at the Ford pickup-
     truck plant in Norfolk, called the computer plan a ``really 
     good thing. The way the modern world is going, it's all going 
     to be about computers and we've got to get up to speed.''
       Many members of the local put off buying computers at 
     Christmas in anticipation of a Ford computer program. But Hay 
     said no one on the local predicted the deal would be this 
     good. UAW officials said the local predicted the deal would 
     be this good. UAW officials said they have talked to both 
     General Motors Corp. and DaimlerChrysler AG about similar 
     deals, but officials at those companies said they now have 
     no plans to follow Ford. The three U.S. automakers, 
     however, have in the past tended to match each others' 
     benefits programs.
       There are no strings attached to the computer deal for 
     individual employees and no requirement that the PCs be used 
     for work. Both Ford and UAW officials said there will be no 
     monitoring of how employees use their computers or Internet 
     access.
       Company sources said the price tag could be as much as $300 
     million over three years, but Ford officials declined to 
     confirm that. Ford last year netted $7.2 billion. It has 
     another $28 billion in the bank.
       In the United States, Ford workers will pay $5 a month for 
     the basic package put together by San Francisco-based 
     PeoplePC Inc. Hewlett-Packard Corp. will supply the computers 
     and printers, and Fairfax-based UUNet Technologies Inc., a 
     subsidiary of MCI WorldCom Inc., will provide the Internet 
     access.
       After three years--and a total payment of $180 per 
     employee--the hardware will be the worker's property, though 
     Ford officials said it isn't clear yet if employees will have 
     to continue to pay for Internet access.
       Elsewhere in the world, the monthly fee will be adjusted 
     for household incomes and living standards.
       The $5 fee is largely symbolic. It hearkens back to 1914, 
     when Henry Ford, the company's founder, introduced the then-
     revolutionary industrial wage of $5 a day. Chairman Bill 
     Ford, Henry's grandson, said the $5-a-month computer offer is 
     equally revolutionary.
       The base computer will have a 500-megahertz Intel Celeron 
     chip, 64 megabytes of RAM, a 4.3 gigabyte hard disk, CD-ROM 
     drive, 15-inch monitor, speakers and a modem. The printer 
     will be a color inkjet.
       Hardware will start going out to Ford employees in April. 
     All Ford employees who want to participate in the program 
     should receive the necessary equipment within 12 months, 
     according to the company and UAW officials.
       Hewlett-Packard sold 7.6 million personal computers 
     worldwide last year, 4 million in the United States. If 
     300,000 Ford employees take advantage of the program, as 
     Hewlett-Packard projects, the deal would represent nearly 4 
     percent of the company's worldwide computer sales. Weis said 
     yesterday that it was one of the biggest single computer 
     sales contracts for the company.
       Over the past year, Ford has moved aggressively to 
     establish itself as the e-business leader, at least in the 
     automotive industry. Under Nasser's prompting, the company 
     has entered into deals with Oracle Corp. to use the Internet 
     to speed up transactions and cut costs in dealing with 
     suppliers. The company has also struck deals with Microsoft 
     Corp., CarPoint and Yahoo Inc. to help customers shop for 
     cars and trucks and other Ford-provided automotive services.
       Ford announced another agreement Wednesday, this one with 
     UPS Logistics Group, to drastically reduce the delivery times 
     of components to Ford factories and products to consumers.
       Organized labor is getting into the low-price computer 
     business with the creation last fall of Workingfamily.com, 
     which has already signed up more than a dozen unions 
     representing approximately half the 13 million members of the 
     AFL-CIO. But the lowest price the unions have come up with so 
     far is $8 a week.
                                  ____


                 [From the Detroit News, Feb. 4, 2000]

Free PCs Give Ford Web Edge--Computers, Internet Access Put Workers in 
                             High-Tech Age

                            (By Mark Truby)

       Detroit.--In announcing plans to offer personal computers 
     and Internet access to all Ford Motor Co. employees for $5 a 
     month, Chairman William Clay Ford Jr. evoked his great-
     grandfather's decision to pay employees $5 a day.
       For sheer impact, it may not match Henry Ford's seminal 
     1914 wage decision that gave assembly line workers the 
     wherewithal to buy the product they built.
       But the world's No. 2 automaker is making a bold 
     statement--unprecedented in the industrial world--about its 
     commitment to electronic connectivity.
       With a dizzying series of alliances with high-technology 
     companies in recent weeks, Ford already has committed to 
     using the World Wide Web to revamp trade with suppliers, 
     connect drivers to the Internet and communicate with dealers 
     and buyers.
       Now, in offering entry to cyberworld cheaply to 350,000 
     employees worldwide, Ford is seeking to change its corporate 
     culture--and at cyberspeed.
       ``Jac Nasser (Ford's chief executive) is working very hard 
     to drive an e-culture into the economy,'' said David Cole, 
     the University of Michigan's top auto expert.
       ``When Nasser talks about Ford becoming an e-company, he is 
     not talking about inanimate objects. He is talking about 
     people of Ford.''

[[Page S387]]

                            Idea Born in '99

       The idea first emerged during negotiations last year 
     between Ford and the United Auto Workers, UAW President 
     Stephen Yokich said. An arrangement in which Ford and UAW 
     would share the cost was originally floated.
       Nasser instead decided Ford would foot the bill alone and 
     the company would offer the computers and Internet service to 
     the company's 100,000 hourly workers in the United States, 
     100,000 salaried employees worldwide and 150,000 hourly 
     employees outside the United States.
       Workers at Visteon Automotive Systems, the auto-parts unit 
     that Ford wants to spin off later this year, will be 
     eligible, as will employees at Ford's Volvo and Jaguar units.
       Ford hasn't decided whether to extend the offer to 
     employees of Mazda Motor Corp., which is controlled by Ford.


                          company is committed

       ``It is clear that individuals and companies that want to 
     be successful in the 21st century will need to be leaders in 
     using the Internet and related technologies,'' Ford said at a 
     press conference. ``That is what this program is all about.''
       Nasser said the company is committed to serving consumers 
     better by understanding how they think and act. ``Having a 
     computer and Internet access in the home will accelerate the 
     development of these skills,'' he said.
       General Motors Corp. and DaimlerChrysler AG have not 
     announced any plans to match Ford's program and would not say 
     Thursday whether they are considering it.
       ``We are always willing to look at anything that would 
     benefit our workforce, but any discussions of this nature are 
     internal,'' said Trevor Hale, a DaimlerChrysler spokesman.
       Ford plans to start the program in the United States in 
     April and complete it in 12 months.


                        ford's decision recalled

       Employees who sign up will receive a Hewlett-Packard 
     computer with a 500-megahertz processor, 64 megabytes of RAM 
     and a 4.3 gigabyte hard disk. A 15-inch monitor and color ink 
     jet printer computer will be included.
       Employees can upgrade to three more powerful computers at 
     their expense.
       ``It does remind me of Henry Ford's decision to pay his 
     employees enough so they could afford his products,'' said 
     Malcolm Maclachlan, an e-commerce research analyst for 
     International Data Corp. in Mountain View, Calif.
       ``It sort of goes against the grain of corporate America in 
     the last 20 years. It's an enlightened idea.''
       The alliance is a boon for slumping Hewlett-Packard, which 
     expects to ship 300,000 computers and printers for the Ford 
     program.
       PeoplePC Inc. of San Francisco is coordinating the program 
     and UUNET of Fairfax, Va., will provide the Internet and e-
     mail service.


                         $175-million price tag

       Employees will access the Internet through a special portal 
     that will offer direct links to many Ford services and 
     information and will be customized for different regions of 
     the world.
       Ford assured employees it would not be monitoring their e-
     mails and Internet surfing. The network could eventually be 
     used for company announcements such as temporary plant 
     closings.
       Ford would not discuss costs, but the program could cost 
     upwards of a $175 million or more.
       ``It's a very bold move,'' said Cole, head of U-M's Office 
     for the Study of Automotive Transportation. ``It's really 
     very clearly out-of-the-box thinking. They are really going 
     beyond what you would expect from a company that really 
     watches their pennies.''
       While the primary goal is to create a computer-savvy, 
     Internet-oriented workforce, Ford expects to enjoy the 
     ancillary benefit of goodwill with its employees.
       ``It's like a reward to employees,'' Cole said. ``It's a 
     nice surprise.''


                         UAW members hail move

       At a news conference announcing the program Thursday, UAW 
     members asked detailed questions about the computers' 
     capabilities and features, and said some of their fellow 
     employees were considering delaying retirement until they get 
     their computers.
       ``It's very much in the conversation of folks around 
     here,'' said Tim Devine, a lawyer who works in Ford's Office 
     of General Counsel.
       ``My wife and I were fairly skeptical about the Internet at 
     first and we have sort of surprised ourselves by how useful 
     we find it,'' Devine said.
       ``I think the same thing will happen and the company ends 
     up with families whose lives are enriched.''

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