Sean McAlinden, chief economist at the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Michigan, said the payments,although much less than those negotiated during the 2007 UAW contract talks, are still substantial for companies trying to weather the worst auto recession in 25 years.

After the negotiations in 2007, UAW president Ron Gettelfinger said the VEBAs would provide top-flight benefits to hourly retirees for at least 80 years. Gettelfinger has now backed away from that assertion.

“That 80-year timeline has fallen off the table because of the meltdown, because of the company [GM] going into bankruptcy,” he told Reuters this month.

GM had about 493,000 UAW retirees and surviving spouses in August. Ford finished 2008 with about 175,000, and Chrysler had 93,434 in July.

Ford, which lacked the threat of bankruptcy as leverage for greater UAW concessions, has the largest total VEBA obligation of the Detroit Three: $13.2 billion over about the next decade. Ford can pay about half of it in stock.

GM has agreed to pay its UAW VEBA with a promissory note of $2.5 billion and $9 billion in preferred stock. Chrysler owes a note of $4.6 billion. With other equity consideration, the Chrysler UAW VEBA now owns 55 percent of Chrysler, and the GM UAW VEBA now owns 17.5 percent of GM.