US automakers and workers reach eleventh-hour deal

General Motors Corp, Ford Motor Co and DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler unit entered the final 24 hours before their labor contracts expired, as hopes for an early settlement faded.

"We have a lot of work to do and not much time," United Auto Workers president Ron Gettelfinger told reporters yesterday at a labor rally in Detroit. The union may reach an agreement with "at least one" automaker before tonight's deadline, he said.

If a contract isn't reached by the midnight deadline, a strike won't necessarily occur. The union has extended deadlines in previous negotiations.

The UAW accelerated negotiations with the three largest US automakers on Sept. 3, including some round-the-clock sessions.

The Detroit News, Detroit Free Press and other newspapers reported the union was seeking an early, simultaneous agreement with all three automakers.

Gettelfinger, who hadn't commented in detail until Saturday, told reporters the union isn't trying to reach a simultaneous accord with the companies.

The talks, which began in July, affect 291,510 active workers and about 475,000 retirees and surviving spouses. The automakers are seeking to hold down labor costs, including pension and health-care expenses, because of declining US market share even as the companies spend more on incentives than Asian and European competitors.

Traditionally, the UAW selected one automaker as a "lead company" at the deadline. Negotiations would be concentrated there with the contract deadline extended for the other two automakers. Once a new contract was ratified at the lead automaker, the pact would be adapted to the others. This year, the UAW appeared not to select a lead company.

Gettelfinger said he had, in fact, picked one of the automakers as the lead company shortly after the Labor Day holiday. He declined to say which one.

Tom Wickham, a spokesman for General Motors, Anne Marie Gattari, a spokeswoman for Ford, and Dan Bodene, a spokesman for Chrysler, all declined to comment.

Gettelfinger is most likely to sign a contract first with General Motors, which is bigger and richer than its rivals and likely to demand smaller job cuts, said Sean McAlinden, an analyst at the Center for Automotive Research.

Even if GM signs first, Gettelfinger may move quickly to reach tentative agreements at Ford and Chrysler and then schedule simultaneous ratification votes by union workers, McAlinden said.

With these simultaneous votes, Gettelfinger could preserve the union's tradition of insisting on "pattern" contracts with the same wage, benefit and grievance procedures at all three companies.

"The companies had such separate goals this time, the union had to force them to negotiate simultaneously to establish a pattern," McAlinden said.

Ford and Chrysler are both seeking to trim about 20,000 jobs from their workforces, McAlinden said. General Motors is seeking job cuts about half that size, and wants workers to pay more for health care, McAlinden said.