Ford and UAW resume talks

By Poornima Gupta

DETROIT (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co (F.N) and the United Auto Workers resumed high-level contract talks Thursday morning as the negotiators continued to make progress toward a tentative labor contract.

The two sides broke off talks just before 1 a.m. ET on Thursday and were back at the bargaining table at Ford's Dearborn, Michigan, headquarters in the morning, a person briefed on progress in the talks said.

Negotiators were making good progress, the person said.

Ford and UAW declined to comment on the negotiations, citing the private nature of the bargaining.

Contract talks between Ford and the UAW picked up pace this week after UAW President Ron Gettelfinger joined the talks on Tuesday.

The talks had slowed down after the UAW indefinitely extended its previous labor contract, which expired on September 14, to focus on talks with General Motors Corp (GM.N) and Chrysler LLC.

The extension could be ended by either party with a 72-hour notice.

The UAW has not yet issued a strike notice for Ford. The union, in its negotiations with GM and Chrysler, issued strike notices to both automakers after canceling contract extensions.

Workers at General Motors Corp. (GM.N) ratified a new contract early in the month and workers at Chrysler ratified a parallel deal late last week, both after brief strikes.

One analyst said the UAW's negotiations with Ford could turn difficult following rival Chrysler's announcement on Thursday that it plans to cut up to 10,000 hourly jobs in North America, five days after its labor contract was ratified by workers.

"It certainly could complicate Ford's negotiations if the hourly work force at Chrysler has a strong negative reaction to this announcement," said the analyst, Fitch Ratings Managing Director Mark Oline.

"The rank-and-file would certainly want to have that much more assurance in terms of investment commitments and employment levels," Oline said of Ford workers.

Ford had made it clear it would push for deeper concessions from the union than those offered by GM or Chrysler.

Ford indicated it was looking for about 8,000 to 10,000 additional factory job cuts. That would be in addition to the 27,000 UAW jobs Ford had cut as of June.

Gettelfinger has said that he will be looking for Ford to match the broad outline of the deal given the UAW by GM and Chrysler, including agreement to fund a trust that would take over Ford's obligation to provide retiree health care.