While GM and Chrysler have already negotiated with the UAW to bring an end to the jobs bank program (as required by GM and Chrysler’s federal bailout announced in December), Ford is still negotiating with UAW about an end to the program. Ford didn’t take a bailout, but still wants to end the program to gain a better financial footing. The jobs bank program continues paying 95% of wages and benefits to auto workers whose plants have closed, and costs Ford millions each year.

In order to begin negotiations with Ford on the matter, the UAW required the Detroit company to enter negotiations with its bondholders for concessions. GM and Chrysler are required to undergo similar bondholder concession talks by terms of the federal bailout. With no bondholder talks yet, Ford can’t announce a set date for an end to the jobs bank; UAW allowed Ford to announce an agreement had been reached to settle concerns about the company. The UAW wants the bondholders to split a “shared sacrifice.”

The UAW has also asked for its own representation on the Ford board of directors, in exchange for the union agreeing to allow retiree pensions to be bonded through company stock rather than outright cash.

According to The Detroit News, Ford actually has little chance of succeeding at renegotiating debt with its bondholders, because it has little to offer those bondholders in return.

GM and Chrysler are required by the federal bailout to renegotiate terms on two-thirds of their debt obligations, a process they’re undergoing right now; if they are unable to settle on terms with their lenders, the companies would be unable to qualify for further bailout funds and will sink into bankruptcy. Ford cannnot threaten bondholders with the prospect of bankruptcy, since it is on more solid financial footing than either GM or Chrysler.

Insiders point out that Ford needs only to win small concessions to take to UAW President Ron Gettelfinger to in turn show its union workers that they’re not the only ones conceding terms.

Shelly Lombard, a Gimme Credit analyst, responds that bondholders have little reason to concede terms to Ford at this time; they could wait and see if the bonds decline in value, at which point in time Ford might ask for its own bailout from Washington, which would probably mandate (as with GM and Chrysler now) that Ford restructure the debt. Although bondholders might object to taxpayers receiving equity in the company and having to follow federal mandates in order to receive the bailout cash, Lombard says: “If I was a bondholder, I’d wait it out. There’s almost an incentive not do anything now.”

A Ford insider concludes: “Everything is trickier for us because we’re not doing this under the auspices of the federal government. But we still wouldn’t rather be GM.”