[mgarblik]

I have been in the repair end and education area of the automotive business for just over 50 years. The mechanic/technician pay situation has not changed much in those 50 years. I have some facts and just my observations from all this experience. 1. Starting pay has always been extremely low and there is not a uniform plan to advance in most dealerships. I have many, many college co-op students nearing graduation that have been working at new car dealerships, often working on 100K+ vehicles, doing complex repairs for a sub-minimum wage pay, $10.00-12.00 an hour in 2025! 2. Dealerships are franchise operations and vary WIDELY in pay plans, benefits, vacation, insurance, retirement, shop conditions, tool requirements, work flow, teamwork, attitudes, just to name a few. They are all essentially independent and can do whatever they want as long as it's legal. 3. Working conditions make a huge difference in job satisfaction. 4. Some dealers put a high value on service, some virtually none at all. I have some co-op dealers that really do everything right. They provide advancement opportunities, good benefits, even company cars to the top techs in the shop. 5. Some dealerships have fantastic technicians, at least a few. Unfortunately, they are often NOT rewarded for their skill or knowledge and often are penalized by getting all the jobs no one else can fix. It's a form of reverse compensation. 6 The elephant in the room is the flat rate pay system. There are many, many technicians who are earning top pay by gaming the system and shooting the "parts cannon" at these cars. That's the only way they can earn top pay. They have to replace something, anything. Diagnosing the root cause of a problem often takes allot of time, research and experience which they DO NOT get paid for. The MAXIMUM diagnosis time for most repairs no matter how complex is 1 hour. So the flat rate pay system rewards cheating. But older experienced mechanics like gaming the system and have figured out how to get 60 hours of pay for a 40 hour work week.
So it's a complex, entrenched, system which won't easily be fixed or changed. If Mr. Farley really wanted to do something about it, he would need to rip it down to the studs and install a completely new service work and pay system through the entire corporation. Then the technicians would flock to FORD to try the new system if it's a good one. "That's why tool boxes have wheels".