DETROIT, Oct. 6 (AP) — The United Automobile Workers union has ratified a four-year labor contract with the last of the Big Three automakers, General Motors. The pact allows G.M. to close a large assembly plant and a smaller parts factory.þþFord and the Chrysler Group of DaimlerChrysler had already ratified agreements reached in mid-September after months of bargaining.þþIn the latest tally announced Monday, the union said members also voted to ratify a contract with the Delphi Corporation, the auto parts supplier and a former G.M. division. þþÿWe accomplished our major bargaining goals and are pleased that the membership expressed confidence in those efforts,ÿ the U.A.W.'s president, Ron Gettelfinger, said. The new contracts cover more than 117,000 active workers at G.M. and more than 30,000 at Delphi, as well as more than 234,000 retirees and 63,000 spouses. þþThe G.M. and Delphi contracts follow the same economic pattern as agreements ratified by union members at Ford, Chrysler and another supplier, the Visteon Corporation.þþImportant provisions include a $3,000 signing bonus, a performance bonus in the second year of the contract, a 2 percent raise in the third year and a 3 percent raise in the fourth year. The contracts do not allow G.M. or Delphi to shift the cost of health insurance premiums to union members.þþThe union said G.M. won the right to close an assembly plant in Baltimore that employs about 1,100 U.A.W. workers, and a powertrain plant in Saginaw with 378 employees.þþGeneral Motors said separately that its stockholders approved a measure that would allow the News Corporation, the media company run by Rupert Murdoch, to take control of a subsidiary, the Hughes Electronics Corporation. The News Corporation agreed in April to buy a controlling 34 percent stake in Hughes and its DirecTV satellite television service for $6.6 billion. G.M. owns 19.8 percent of Hughes's tracking stock. þþþþ
Source: NY Times
