Union, Chrysler strike deal

Just hours after thousands of UAW workers went on strike at Chrysler plants across the U.S., a tentative deal was reached to bring an immediate end to the walkout, the union said Wednesday.

UAW president Ron Gettelfinger didn't release any details of the four-year pact, but said workers should report for their next shift.

"This agreement was made possible because UAW workers made it clear to Chrysler that we needed an agreement that rewards the contributions they have made to the success of this company," Gettelfinger said in a statement.

A statement on the UAW's website said the deal "protects wages, pensions and health care for our active and retired members."

Chrysler said the tentative agreement includes the establishment of a UAW-managed trust that will administer retiree health care. 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-president and chairman Tom LaSorda said in a statement.

The automaker had been in all-night talks with the United Auto Workers leading up to a union-imposed 11 a.m. ET strike deadline. The union represents 49,000 Chrysler workers at 24 Chrysler facilities in the United States. Workers at five plants that were already idle were told not to join the strike.

Canadian Auto Workers president Buzz Hargrove told CBC News earlier Wednesday that Chrysler's plants in Brampton and Windsor, Ont., would have faced imminent shutdowns because of part shortages if a strike went ahead in the United States.

The CAW leader predicted a Chrysler strike would likely not last long. "You'd have to think it would be very short," he said. "There's a lot of pressure on both the UAW and Chrysler to keep those plants running."

Chrysler is now a private company, after DaimlerChrysler sold a majority stake of its Chrysler unit to Cerberus Capital Management, a New York-based private-equity firm.

"I can't imagine [Cerberus] having these operations down for very long," Hargrove said.

Cerberus was pressing for health-care cost concessions and more freedom to contract out, according to sources cited by wire services. The UAW was seeking job security guarantees.

Last month, workers at General Motors' U.S. plants went on strike for two days before the company reached a deal with the UAW. That agreement established a two-tier wage structure and put GM's retiree debt into a UAW-run trust in return for promises of future work at U.S. plants.

Several GM plants in Canada had to lay off workers as cross-border shipments quickly dried up.

The UAW said late Wednesday that 66 per cent of its members at GM had ratified the four-year deal that had been reached last month.

With files from the Associated Press

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• Chrysler
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• Gettelfinger
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[woodcutting49]

Fire all of them There are plenty of people who will work.

[zeppelin67637]

success ?? You call My beloved Chrysler motors a success? Dump the fucking UAW on their heads. I'll goto work for 20 bucks an hour and full health care. I'll never bitch about it either. Fuck UAW. Give Toyota a few more years and they too will be in trouble bc of the UAW.

[DonPollito2010]

I work for UPS. And i am a Teamster. Local 79. UPS just posted a $700+ profit for just the 4th quarter of last year. UPS is unionized and you don't see them failing. You see UPS consistently beating its Non Unionized competitors. Unions instill unity and pride. I would do my job at UPS just as well if it was non union. So all this crap about union peoples are lazy monkeys are nonsense. Theres lazy mofos in Unions And non Unions. Its a fact of life at the workplace. TEAMSTER FOR LIFE!

[KDET10]

Like i just said to bucko60 above, im not disagreeing in any way that theres plenty of lazy slouches out there, and that theyre ruining things bigtime,but not all of us are. im 22 and care about doing my job well more than i care about the $, which is far from making me rich to begin with. Also, keep in mind theres plenty of non-union lazy sacks of shit out there too, its just that the union ones use the union to hide behind, which trust me i dont agree with at all.

[KDET10]

yes, theres plenty of union jerkoffs out there who sit at wawa all day, and yes they make all of us look bad. but there are some of who care about doing our jobs, and doing them well.

[KDET10]

You are correct in what you say, but i do want to get one point across......i am in a union, for a water company. while there are a lot of slugs out there (trust me i work with a few) not every person is a scumbag just because theyre in a union. I take pride in what I do, in that when your water main on your street breaks at 3am and you have no water, you can guarantee i`ll be there fixing it, not because of $, but because i care enough to get your water back on. That all im trying to say now.

[bucko60]

it's funny that unions always ALWAYS talk shit about the CEO's making too much money. the CEO runs the company, of course he'll make way more than the union workers. the unions are the real reason that jobs are being shipped overseas.

[IPOMonster]

GM - GOvernment MOtors!

1. It is with sad irony that the company which invented "planned obsolescence" -- the decision to build cars that would fall apart after a few years so that the customer would then have to buy a new one -- has now made itself obsolete.

2. It refused to build automobiles that the public wanted.

3. Refused to build cars that got great gas mileage, were as safe as they could be, and their cars are uncomfortable to drive.

GM and the UAW got EXACTLY what they deserve

[KDET10]

Right, so workers making $30,000 a year are killing the companies, but the CEO`s getting their $10 million Christmas bonus and flying around in their $55 million private jets arent?

[powerhouse2112]

The auto workers deserve a raise, more paid holidays, better health coverage and a better retirment plan. This will improve their morale and improve the economy. Thanks ahead for all the thumbs up people.