Ford, UAW Agree on Pact

Follows GM, Chrysler deals, including trust to offload health-care costs
By Nick McMaster,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 3, 2007 6:40 AM CDT
Ford, UAW Agree on Pact
Unsold 2007 Explorers sit at a Ford dealership in southeast Denver on Sunday, July 29, 2007. Ford Motor Co.'s U.S. sales plunged 19.1 percent in July from a year earlier, the company said Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2007, as high gas prices and reluctant consumers made it a challenging month for the industry....   (Associated Press)

After 40 hours of marathon bargaining, Ford and the United Auto Workers reached a deal on a new contract this morning, the Wall Street Journal reports. The contract follows the outlines of earlier pacts hammered out by GM and Chrysler, including moving about $23 million in obligations for employee health-care costs into a union-run trust, Ford said.

No other details were provided this morning. If it follows the pattern set by the other two of the Big Three, it will also allow Ford to pay substantially lower wages to second-tier, non-production workers, the Journal noted. Negotiations with Ford, which posted a record $12.6-billion loss last year, were smoother than the earlier two rounds; no strike deadlines were set during talks. (More United Auto Workers stories.)

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