DETROIT, Monday, Sept. 15 — The United Auto Workers union said early this morning that a tentative agreement had been reached with the Chrysler Group on a new four-year contract. þþThe union apparently fell short in its attempt to reach an unusual three-way, simultaneous deal with all of the Big Three automakers. People familiar with the negotiations said that the union had sought such a deal with General Motors, the Ford Motor Company and the Chrysler Group unit of DaimlerChrysler.þþBut Ron Gettelfinger, the union president, said this morning that such reports had been speculative, though the union scheduled its press conference Sunday night not at Chrysler's headquarters but at a facility jointly operated by the union and G.M. and had said officials from all three companies would be present. þþÿWe are going to continue to hammer away at the negotiating process,ÿ Mr. Gettelfinger said this morning, just after midnight, adding that negotiations were continuing at Ford and G.M.þþJohn Franciosi, senior vice president at Chrysler, said ÿIt's been a challenging set of negotiations,ÿ adding ÿwe believe we've crated a very fair and responsible agreement.ÿþþNo details were released. þþAny simultaneous deal would break with tradition. Usually, an initial set of talks begins in the middle of July, and the union announces its selection of one target company around Labor Day. Then it negotiates a deal with that company up to, and sometimes beyond, the contract expiration if an extension is agreed upon. That first deal then sets the pattern used in negotiations with the remaining two companies. þþMr. Gettelfinger, who became president of the union last year, said on Saturday that he chose a target company after Labor Day but decided not to make it public.þþÿIf we get them simultaneously, we'll have to announce them all at once,ÿ he said on Saturday, but cautioned that ÿthere's a lot of work that remains to be done at the bargaining table with all of the companies.ÿþþThis morning, Mr. Gettelfinger said that Chrysler was not necessarily the target he had picked but that the agreement was framed to be the agreement that Ford and G.M. would follow.þþThe talks also include the parts giants Delphi and Visteon, which were spun off from G.M. and Ford, respectively, in the last half-decade.þþMr. Gettelfinger said this morning that Ford and G.M. workers should report to work even though their contract had expired.þþFew expect a strike because of the damage it would cause both sides.þþWhen the last contract was written in 1999, the domestic auto industry was profiting from big sales of sport utility vehicles.þþBut now Japanese, German and Korean automakers have overrun the S.U.V. market and are even threatening the last stronghold of Detroit, the big pickup truck. In August, the market share of the Big Three fell to an all-time low and Toyota's sales surpassed those of the Chrysler Group for the first time. þþThat has many inside and outside the union expecting that the union will be looking to preserve rather than increase benefits.þþÿThe last contract was very expensive,ÿ wrote Stephen Girsky, an auto analyst at Morgan Stanley, in a recent report. He pointed to the contract's 3 percent annual wage increases, increases in pension benefits and a ban on plant closings.þþÿA repeat of the last contract would be viewed poorly by investors,ÿ he said. ÿThe competitive environment has gotten worse, health care costs are way up and the weak stock markets have made the pension situation more difficult.ÿ þþMr. Gettelfinger, in his speech on Saturday at LaborFest, an annual union gathering, reiterated his hard line on one topic, shifting health care costs to workers.þþÿThe only thing that shifting costs does is decrease the worker's paycheck,ÿ he said. ÿThe national health care crisis is a disgrace in a country as rich and resourceful as America.ÿþþAny deal that does give up benefits could be hard to sell to union members, though there is a broad awareness of the competitive environment. þþDunny Smith, a 38-year-old worker at a Ford engine plant in Dearborn, Mich., said he thought union members were braced for bad news. They felt that way, he said, because Toyota was close behind Ford.þþÿWe'll probably be lucky to hold on to what we got,ÿ he said. ÿI think everybody knows what type of position we're in, with the competition.ÿþþHe said he could even handle small increases to his medical co-payments.þþÿAs for giving up money, salary,ÿ he said, ÿoh, man.ÿþþ
Source: NY Times
