Shareowners Call on Ford to Accelerate National Health Care Reform

Shares Support First-Ever Shareholder Resolution on Health Care Reform
Resolution Faces Next Test at Wal-Mart on June 1st

WILMINGTON, DE///May 10, 2007///Independent shareholders of the Ford Motor Company, those who are not members of the Ford family, today voted 11% in favor of its first-ever health care reform resolution, filed by the Dominican Sisters of Adrian, Michigan, the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) announced today. Overall, 6.6% voted in favor of the resolution, enough to place the resolution on the ballot for next year.

In prepared remarks, Catherine Rowan, a corporate responsibility consultant representing several co-filers of the resolution, said "Health care reform in the United States is not the duty of liberals or of conservatives - it is a fiduciary duty. Ford even points out on their website that foreign automakers have an advantage when it comes to health. 'Many of their operations are located in countries where employees and retirees are covered by government-sponsored health plans,' the website states. Corporations have begun lining up to restart the national debate on a way forward on health care. Investors are right to demand that Ford not only participate in those discussions, but lead them. It serves no one to keep Ford's voice locked in the trunk." Catherine Rowan represented Trinity Health, the National Ministries of the American Baptist Church, and the Camilla Madden Charitable Trust at the annual meeting.

The resolution will next be voted on at Wal-Mart stores on June 1st. It reads:

Shareholders request that the company report (at reasonable cost and omitting proprietary information) on the implications of rising health care expenses and how it is positioning itself to address this public policy issue without compromising the health and productivity of its workforce. The report should be completed by June 30, 2007 and need not address specific benefit offerings.

The SEC is allowing five other companies - 3M, Federated, Kohl's, Target, and General Motors - to omit the resolution from their shareholder ballots. Wal-Mart did not ask the SEC for permission to omit the resolution. Ford did so but proponents were successful in arguing the resolution should be considered by shareowners. The SEC has not provided ICCR its reasoning as to why the resolution will move forward at Ford and not at General Motors.

The resolutions are part of a multi-faceted health care campaign by ICCR, a coalition of faith-based institutions, denominations, pension funds, foundations, and other institutional investors. In addition to filing resolutions, ICCR has articulated Principles for Health Care Reform and published a report compiling the health care reform positions of Protestant, Jewish, and Catholic religious traditions.

A second resolution was filed by ICCR Members on adoption of goals to reduce green house gas emissions; 14.1% of all shareholders voted in favor of the resolution (23.5% of independent shareholders voted in favor of the resolution).

Note to Editors
Shareholder resolutions may be filed by any shareholder holding $2000 worth of company stock for a period of one year, provided they continue to hold the stock through the annual meeting. Management, if it feels resolutions are not appropriate, often asks the staff of the SEC for permission to exclude or omit the resolution from their shareholder ballots. The SEC grants such permission if the resolution is false and misleading, deals with a personal grievance, deals with the ordinary business of the company, or for a number of other reasons.

CONTACT:
Dan Rosan, 212-870-2317 or
Dan Klotz, 917-438-4613

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