By Howard Schneider
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, January 24, 2008 10:29 AM

Ford Motor Co., in the midst of a turnaround plan that has already seen it trim tens of thousands of workers from its payroll, has offered fresh buyouts to its unionized employees in an effort to cut costs further, the company announced today.

Ford was considered a candidate for bankruptcy a year ago when it posted 2006 losses of more than $12 billion and mortgaged many of its assets to raise operating cash.

The company said today its losses narrowed substantially in 2007, to $2.7 billion, and that excluding one-time special costs it had earned a profit of $126 million before taxes.

"Our plan is working and we continue to show progress . . . We are heading in the right direction," Ford chief executive officer Alan Mulally said in a conference call this morning.

But the company's market share in the critical North American market continued to slip, falling from roughly 16 percent of vehicle sales in 2006 to 14.6 percent in 2007. With U.S. economic growth dimming, Ford said it would continue trying to trim expenses, particularly labor costs, in order to meet its target of returning to profitability in 2009.

Ford said today that it had reduced its number of workers by 32,800 in 2007, many of them through buyouts offered to union members.

Under terms of a fall contract with the United Auto Workers, Ford is allowed to replace higher-paid workers with entry-level laborers who don't command the same hourly wages or benefits as union veterans.

While not specifying a targeted for the next round of personnel cuts, Ford said the buyouts would be offered to all 54,000 unionized workers, about 12,000 of whom are already eligible to retire.

Mulally said the company would also "selectively" lay off some salaried employees as well.

Details of the buyouts were not released, and Mulally said he did not want to say how many positions might be refilled and how many would be eliminated until it is clear which workers accept the offer.

The Detroit News, quoting UAW officials, said workers would be offered one-time payments of between $50,000 and $75,000 depending on their current salary and the amount of pension benefits they have accrued.

All "Big Three" U.S. automakers have been struggling under intense competition from foreign manufacturers such as Toyota. Toyota may have eclipsed General Motors in 2007 as the world's number one automaker in terms of sales. Chrysler Corp., meanwhile, was sold to a private equity company last year and is also in the midst of a major restructuring.