Caterpillar sues UAW over retiree lawsuits

BOSTON (Reuters) - Heavy equipment maker Caterpillar Inc. (CAT.N) said on Wednesday it sued seven locals of the United Auto Workers union, charging they were violating the terms of their contracts by supporting lawsuits filed by retirees and surviving spouses of former Caterpillar workers that seek lifetime health insurance at no cost.

Caterpillar said it filed the suit to ensure that the UAW lives up to the terms of contracts negotiated in 1998 and 2004.

"We think it's a breach of contract for the union to support a lawsuit that attacks the very terms the union proposed, negotiated and ratified during the bargaining," said Dan Day, Caterpillar's corporate human resources manager, in a statement.

A UAW spokesperson could not be immediately reached for comment.

Caterpillar, the world's largest maker of earth-moving equipment, said it filed the suits in U.S. District Court in Nashville, Tennessee.

The issue of retiree health care is also expected to represent a major hurdle in the UAW's contract negotiations with the Detroit-based automakers in talks that began this week.

General Motors Corp. (GM.N), Ford Motor Co. (F.N) and DaimlerChrysler AG DCXGn.DE have unfunded liabilities of over $90 billion on a combined basis for retiree health care.

(Reporting by Scott Malone in Boston, Kevin Krolicki and Jui Chakravorty in Detroit and Anup Roy in Bangalore)