UAW Ratifies Chrysler Contract

Oct 27, 06:07 PM

Current Headlines: By Tim Higgins, Detroit Free Press

Oct. 27--UAW members have ratified the national labor agreement with Chrysler LLC, the union said in a statement this morning.

The announcement comes shortly after voting ended at Chrysler's Belvidere Assembly Plant in Illinois. Workers there voted to reject the agreement with 55% of voters against it, a person familiar with the results said.

Belvidere's Local 1268 was the final union local to vote but the defeat was apparently not enough to overcome the number of yes-votes already logged.

According to a statement issued by the UAW, the contract passed overall with 56% in favor among production workers and 51% in favor among skilled trade workers.

In addition, 94% of office and clerical workers and 79% of engineering workers voted to approve the deal.

"Our members had to face some tough choices, and we had a solid, democratic debate about this contract," UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said in a statement. "Now we're going to come together as a union -- and now it's on the company to move ahead, increase their market share and continue to build great cars and trucks here in the U.S."

With the ratification, Chrysler joins General Motors Corp. in greatly reducing the labor cost gap against foreign rivals' U.S. plants with non-union work forces. Ford Motor Co. has yet to reach a tentative agreement with the UAW.

"We are 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," Chrysler Vice Chairman and President Tom LaSorda said in a statement.

The union reached a tentative labor agreement with Chrysler Oct. 10 after a 6 1/2 hour strike.

The contract shifts Chrysler's retiree health care obligation to a trust under the auspices of the union and creates a two tier wage system under which new hires to so-called noncore jobs will make about half as much as core positions.

The UAW says Chrysler has committed to keep operating most of its facilities and identified more than $15 billion in potential investments.

Supporters said the agreement would secure jobs into the future.

The proposal was greeted with opposition as soon as voting began last week. Several large assembly plants voted against.

Opponents were unhappy that the contract did not provide the same kind of future product guarantees found in a similar deal cut with GM. GM workers ratified their contract with more than 60% approving it on Oct. 10.

"There's no question this was a difficult set of negotiations during difficult times for the U.S. auto industry," UAW Vice President General Holiefield, who heads the union's Chrysler department, said in a statement. "But with the support of our membership and local leadership, we have an agreement that secures jobs and wages and protects health care and pension benefits."

Contact TIM HIGGINS at 313-222-8784 or thiggins@freepress.com.

-----

To see more of the Detroit Free Press, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.freep.com

Copyright (c) 2007, Detroit Free Press

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

NYSE:DCX, NYSE:GM, NYSE:F,