UAW and GM reach accord

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Fiscal concessions match Ford deal

The UAW has agreed to contract concessions with General Motors Corp. that are similar to the recently approved Ford Motor Co. deal in terms of economics but "drastically different" in other areas, according to a top union leader.

On Feb. 17, the UAW announced it had reached a "tentative understanding" with GM, Chrysler LLC and Ford, but still needed to negotiate the terms of a retiree health care fund. Ford and the UAW this week ratified a new deal.

But union members will not get a chance to ratify the agreement until the UAW and GM finish negotiating a debt restructuring of the retiree health care trust, Cal Rapson, UAW vice president of the GM division, said in a note dated Monday to local presidents and chairpersons.



Terms of GM's $13.4-billion federal loan require the automaker to push the union to accept half the money owed to the fund in company stock instead of cash. The automaker must also restructure its debt with bondholders.

"The tentative changes that we have made to the UAW GM National Agreement in the area of economics pattern the UAW Ford agreement," Rapson said. "However, other parts of the Ford agreement are drastically different."

The differences include "no mandatory physical examinations in the UAW GM agreement" and "with regard to employee placement," he said. "Other parts of the agreement are different to better fit the UAW GM culture."

UAW workers at Ford finished ratifying contract changes Monday with 59% of production workers and 58% of skilled-trade workers voting in support. The Ford deal includes a suspension in cost-of-living increases and reduced break time, among other concessions. Ford also will be able to partially fund the retiree health care trust with stock.

A GM spokeswoman declined to comment. A UAW spokesman didn't respond to questions.