DAIMLERCHRYSLER Management makes offer to take pay cut

BERLIN (AP) -- DaimlerChrysler's management is ready to give up some of its pay if employees make concessions in the automaker's drive to cut $620 million in costs, a company spokesman said Sunday.
DaimlerChrysler workers have staged walkouts and rallies in recent days, halting production of some Mercedes-Benz cars as recently as Saturday to protest company demands to work more for the same pay. More walkouts are reportedly planned for next week.
"I can confirm that the board is willing to make a contribution if there is an overall agreement," DaimlerChrysler spokesman Thomas Froehlich said Sunday.
He refused to comment in detail on a Bild am Sonntag newspaper report that chief executive Juergen Schrempp and other top managers were willing to relinquish 10 percent of their salaries if workers agree to a deal. The report cited no sources.
Schrempp told the Welt am Sonn-tag newspaper he believes a deal is possible soon.
"I am confident that we will have a solution shortly," he was quoted as saying. "We are in constructive negotiations."
Higher costs
DaimlerChrysler says labor costs at its plant in Sindelfingen near Stuttgart are higher than at another German factory in Bremen. The company has threatened to move production of future Mercedes-Benz C-class model cars to Bremen and South Africa unless it gets $620 million in annual savings at Sindelfingen.
DaimlerChrysler wants to cut extra pay for evening and night shifts as well as the five minutes of paid break time that workers accumulate every hour under the local contract, won in a 1973 strike.
Copyright 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.