DETROIT (AP) -- The United Auto Workers union reached
a tentative four-year contract with Chrysler Wednesday, hours after
going on strike and the same day General Motors workers ratified a
separate four-year pact. Next up: Ford.
A person with knowledge of the Chrysler LLC agreement said it
includes some guarantees that vehicles will be produced at U.S.
factories, a company-funded union-run trust that will pay much of
Chrysler's $18 billion in long-term retiree health care costs, and a
lower wage scale for some newly hired workers.
The person, who requested anonymity because the contract has not
been ratified by union members, said the new vehicle guarantees are
not as extensive as those given by General Motors Corp.
The guarantees, which translate into job security for union
workers, are in many cases only for the life of current products,
the person said. GM made guarantees at many factories that include
the next generation of cars, trucks and parts.
The new lower wage scale, the person said, covers new hires who
would replace Chrysler Mopar parts transportation workers. Buyout
and early retirement offers would be made to current workers in an
effort to get them to leave, the person said.
The lower wage scale is similar to the one negotiated by GM, the
person said.
UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said the strike against Chrysler,
which is 80.1 percent owned by private equity firm Cerberus Capital
Management LP, would end immediately and workers should report for
their next available shift.
"This agreement was made possible because UAW workers made it
clear to Chrysler that we needed an agreement that rewards the
contributions they have made to the success of this company,"
Gettelfinger said in a statement.
Gettelfinger wouldn't release any details of the contract, but
Chrysler said the tentative agreement includes the retiree health
care trust. The newly private company didn't say how much money it
will contribute to the trust.
"The national agreement is consistent with the economic pattern
and balances the needs of our employees and company by providing a
framework to improve our long-term manufacturing competitiveness,"
Chrysler Vice President and Chairman Tom LaSorda said in a
statement.
Chrysler's national UAW contract covers about 45,000 workers and
78,000 retirees and spouses.
Brett Ward, a material handler at Chrysler's Sterling Heights
assembly plant, said Wednesday night he had not been given details
of the agreement.
But he feared that it would have a lower-tier wage structure for
new hires that was similar to what the union negotiated with GM. In
the next contract, he's afraid Chrysler will negotiate wages
downward for all workers similar to a deal between the UAW and
troubled auto parts supplier Delphi Corp.
"They made it one tier again, but a much lower, undesirable one,"
said Ward, a member of Soldiers of Solidarity, a group often
critical of the union.
Kevin Bork, a senior designer at a Chrysler technical center,
said his primary concerns are health care and stopping the
outsourcing of jobs.
"I'm very happy that the strike didn't last very long and we'll
all be returning to work," he said. "Now it's just a matter of
seeing what the offer is."
The UAW said its historic contract with GM, which also includes a
retiree health care trust, was approved by 66 percent of production
workers and 64 percent of skilled trades workers.
The deal, reached Sept. 26 after a two-day nationwide strike,
establishes lower pay for some workers and makes promises for future
work at U.S. plants.
UAW members at 19 of 24 U.S. Chrysler factories and several other
facilities left their jobs for the picket lines at 11 a.m. Wednesday
and stayed out for about six hours.
Talks between the UAW and Chrysler began in July but accelerated
last weekend. Among the major issues were the retiree health care
trust, the company's desire to outsource parts-trucking jobs,
promises that future products will be built at U.S. factories, and
parity with health care concessions that were given to Ford Motor
Co. and GM two years ago.
A majority of Chrysler workers will have to ratify the tentative
agreement before it can take effect. Ford will be the final
automaker to bargain with the UAW.
Chrysler became a private company shortly after the contract
talks began in July. Cerberus bought its share of Chrysler from the
former DaimlerChrysler AG in a $7.4 billion transaction in August.
Chrysler is now a private company without publicly traded shares.
Chrysler has 24 U.S. manufacturing facilities, including 10
assembly plants. The automaker had already planned to idle five
assembly plants and some parts making factories for short stretches
during the next two weeks in an effort to adjust its inventory to a
slowing U.S. automotive market.
Workers didn't strike the Warren Truck assembly plants in Warren,
Mich.; Newark, Del., assembly; Jefferson North assembly in Detroit;
Belvidere assembly in Belvidere, Ill.; and the Conner Avenue
assembly plant in Detroit.