DETROIT — Chrysler and the United Automobile Workers union reached a tentative agreement early Wednesday on a new four-year labor contract that calls for 2,100 additional jobs in the United States, the union said.þþþThe union said Chrysler, which went through bankruptcy protection in 2009, also committed to investing $4.5 billion to retool plants for new models. It planned to lay out more details of the proposed contract, which covers 26,000 workers, at a news conference later Wednesday.þþ“This agreement is the latest in a remarkable turnaround for Chrysler,” General Holiefield, the U.A.W. vice president in charge of negotiations with Chrysler, said in a statement. “Chrysler has turned the corner and with this agreement will continue to move forward. It’s a new day at Chrysler.”þþChrysler, the smallest of the three Detroit automakers, was the last to reach a deal with the U.A.W. Negotiations there were the most difficult, as Chrysler executives took a hard line against any increase in labor costs.þþThe union last month ratified a new contract with General Motors that creates or retains 6,400 jobs. Workers at the Ford Motor Company began voting this week on a tentative agreement, reached Oct. 4, that adds 12,000 jobs. Both deals follow the same basic framework, giving workers signing bonuses of at least $5,000, raising entry-level wages and moving work from other countries, including Mexico, to American plants.þþ “Together with the jobs created in suppliers and other businesses supported by auto manufacturing, a total of 180,000 jobs will be added to the country’s battered economy” if the Ford and Chrysler agreements are approved, U.A.W. President Bob King said in the statement. The 180,000 includes the new G.M. jobs.þþG.M. has said its new contract increases labor costs by just 1 percent annually, an amount that prompted Standard & Poor’s to upgrade G.M.’s credit rating. Ford and Chrysler were waiting until their deals are ratified before discussing them in more detail.þþChrysler’s chief executive, Sergio Marchionne, last week described the G.M. and Ford deals as “overly generous.” Chrysler was the only one of the Detroit companies to lose money in 2010 — $652 million — but it has since repaid $7.5 billion in high-interest government loans that were its largest hindrance to profitability.þþFord workers were scheduled to finish voting on their contract next week. The first big plant to vote, a compact-car assembly plant in suburban Detroit, narrowly rejected the deal Tuesday. Some Ford workers have complained that they deserved larger bonuses or a pay raise, which they have not received since 2003.þþ“I have no doubt in my mind that the agreement will pass,” Jimmy Settles, the U.A.W. vice president in charge of negotiations with Ford, said in an interview Saturday.þþ þ
Source: NY Times
