Agreement ends brief strike against Chrysler

Chrysler said its tentative contract pact, which covers about 45,000 workers and 78,000 retirees and spouses, includes the retiree health care trust, but the newly private company didn’t say how much money it will contribute to the trust.

“The national agreement is consistent with the economic pattern and balances the needs of our employees and company by providing a framework to improve our long-term manufacturing competitiveness,” Chrysler Vice Chairman and President Tom LaSorda said in a statement.

The UAW said its historic contract with GM, which also includes a retiree health care trust, was approved by 66 percent of production workers and 64 percent of skilled trades workers. The deal was reached Sept. 26 after a two-day nationwide strike.

The UAW’s strike at 19 of Chrysler’s 24 U.S. manufacturing plants began at 11 a.m. Wednesday, but with an agreement reached six hours later, Gettelfinger said the walkout would end immediately. Workers didn’t strike at plants that were already scheduled to be idled.

Talks between the UAW and Chrysler began in July but accelerated last weekend. Among the major issues were the retiree health care trust, the company’s desire to outsource parts-trucking jobs, promises that future products will be built at U.S. factories, and parity with health care concessions that were given to Ford and GM two years ago.

Chrysler was considered the wild card in this year’s contract talks because it became a private company in August, when Cerberus bought its stake in the automaker from the former DaimlerChrysler AG for $7.4 billion. Analysts predicted Cerberus would push for short-term gains to generate more cash from its investment.

But Ford generally is seen as the weakest of the Detroit Three automakers. It has mortgaged its factories to secure a $23.4 billion line of credit to cover losses and fund its restructuring plan, which calls for closing 16 facilities by 2012. The company has identified 10 of the closures but has yet to announce the remaining six.

Gary Chaison, a labor specialist at Clark University in Worcester, Mass., said the union will almost have to strike Ford now that workers have walked off the job at GM and Chrysler. But Chaison said that’s unfortunate, since a strike could do serious damage to Ford.

“I don’t think the UAW has fully appreciated how much the industry has changed,” Chaison said. “The idea of imposing an agreement by one of them with the threat of a strike might not be really relevant anymore.”

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