AUTO INDUSTRY GM continues labor talks; Chrysler, Ford set pacts

GM employees will continue working while talks continue.
DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) -- General Motors Corp. was the only Big Three automaker still negotiating with the United Auto Workers on a new labor agreement after Ford Motor Co. announced tentative contract terms.
The deal announced late Monday also covers supplier Visteon Corp., which spun off from Ford in 2000 and negotiated along with the world's second-largest automaker.
Union representatives told members earlier they were close to new labor agreements with Ford and GM, but difficult issues remained.
"We're proud of the agreement, and we're satisfied that it's a good agreement that addresses the needs of our membership," UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said at a press briefing at Ford's world headquarters in this Detroit suburb.
Talks with GM, the world's largest automaker, continued into this morning. The union and DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group announced just after midnight Monday that they reached a tentative, four-year contract.
Mum on details
Details of the tentative agreements with Chrysler and Ford weren't released. Both will require ratification by members, as will a GM deal.
"It was a long set of negotiations, but well worth it, and I'm very proud of our entire team," said Bill Ford Jr., chairman and chief executive of Ford. "They did a wonderful job."
Bill Ford, without being specific, said terms of the four-year contract will have no adverse effect on the company's ongoing turnaround bid, which includes closing several plants and improving profits by $9 billion by mid-decade.
"We feel very good about where we are today," he said.
The Big Three and UAW began talks on new labor pacts in mid-July, but GM and Ford were unable to reach resolutions before contracts expired as Sunday's midnight deadline passed. The UAW, Ford and Visteon agreed to a three-day extension so they could continue negotiating.
In Ohio, the auto industry employs 84,450 workers, about 10 percent of the state's manufacturing jobs, according to the Ohio Department of Development.
The union has said GM employees will report to work as usual while talks continue.
In a message posted Sunday night for GM workers, UAW negotiator Clyde Sims said the two sides were nearing a resolution but declined to specify matters still on the table.
Gettelfinger said negotiators with GM would "stay at the bargaining table until a tentative agreement is hammered out."
The UAW and Big Three, along with suppliers Delphi Corp. and Visteon, have been negotiating issues including wages, jobs, health care and pensions affecting 300,000 workers and nearly a half-million retirees and their spouses.
Some analysts and labor experts have said the new pacts likely will reflect the automakers' difficulties and that compromise in areas such as wage and pension increases was likely.