[NYTr] UAW OKs pact with Chrysler in close vote

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

sent by Steven L. Robinson - activ-l

The New York Times via SF Chronicle - Oct 28, 2007
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/10/28/MNAVT27NA.DTL

UAW OKs pact with Chrysler in close vote

Way is now clear for union to push contract with Ford

by Micheline Maynard

Detroit--Members of the United Automobile Workers union narrowly
approved a four-year contract with Chrysler LLC, the union said
Saturday, clearing the way for talks to move forward at the Ford Motor
Co.

Approval of the Chrysler contract came after one of the most tumultuous
votes in recent memory. Some local union officials opposed the
agreement, reached Oct. 10 after a six-hour strike. It looked to be in
danger when workers at four assembly plants rejected the contract in
votes last weekend.

Opponents voiced concerns that the contract did not provide as many
guarantees of future work as a similar contract approved by workers at
General Motors earlier this month, after a two-day strike.

Still, the Chrysler contract gained support at smaller plants as well as
four big factories in Detroit. On Saturday, the union said 56 percent of
hourly workers and 51 percent of skilled trades workers approved the
agreement.

The last plant to vote on the contract was Chrysler's factory in
Belvidere, Ill., which defeated the agreement by a vote of 55 percent
no to 45 percent yes. But the contract's margin of victory before the
Belvidere vote was enough for it to pass.

The contract covers about 45,000 active workers at Chrysler and more
than 55,000 Chrysler retirees and 23,000 surviving spouses. It will
expire on Sept. 14, 2011.

Chrysler became a private company in August when it was bought by
Cerberus Capital Management LLC.

Union leaders acknowledged the close vote.

"Our members had to face some tough choices, and we had a solid,
democratic debate about this contract," the union's president, Ron
Gettelfinger, said in a statement.

Chrysler's co-president, Thomas LaSorda, said in a statement that the
company was "pleased that our UAW employees recognize that the new
agreement meets the needs of the company and its employees by providing
a framework to improve our long-term manufacturing competitiveness."

Gettelfinger and the union's vice president for Chrysler, General
Holiefield, made an intense push for ratification over the last few
days. Several local leaders credited Holiefield's efforts, in
particular, for the contract's approval.

There has not been a defeat of a contract at a Detroit auto company
since 1982, when Chrysler workers rejected a deal that did not fully
restore concessions they granted when the company was close to
bankruptcy in 1979.

"There's no question this was a difficult set of negotiations during
difficult times for the U.S. auto industry," Holiefield said in the
union's statement.

The most difficult times, however, may be at Ford, the last company that
will negotiate a new deal with the union.

Ford had pushed hard to go first in the negotiations, which would have
given it the most leverage to devise a contract according to its needs.
Instead, the company will now face pressure to accept the terms of the
agreements at GM and Chrysler, a practice called "pattern bargaining."

Ford is expected to follow the "essence of the pattern," said David L.
Gregory, a professor of labor law at St. John's University in Queens,
N.Y. However, "there's going to have to be more flexibility because of
Ford's predicament," he said.

Ford is in the worst shape of the Detroit auto companies. It lost $12.6
billion in 2006 and does not expect to earn money in North America until
2009. It is in the midst of a revamping plan called the Way Forward,
which will include closing plants and eliminating 30,000 jobs.

Last year, Ford borrowed $23 billion by pledging virtually all of its
assets, including plants, divisions and even its blue-oval logo as
collateral. It has also put its Jaguar and Land Rover divisions up for
sale, and is expected to receive bids for them by Tuesday. That money
is meant to pay for its reorganization as well as the development of
new products.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.