Chrysler workers approve contentious labor pact

By Kevin Krolicki

DETROIT (Reuters) - Workers represented by the United Auto Workers ratified a four-year contract with automaker Chrysler LLC, the union said on Saturday, capping a close-fought battle that had threatened to scuttle the labor pact.

Hourly production workers at Chrysler voted 56 percent in favor of the new contract, which would allow the automaker to hire new workers at half the wage rate of current workers for a wide range of jobs in its factories.

The UAW represents some 45,000 Chrysler workers. The focus for union leadership now shifts to negotiations with Ford Motor Co., which is seeking deep concessions as it attempts to bounce back from a record $12.6 billion loss last year.

Among its cost-saving provisions, the Chrysler contract will establish a trust fund to take over the company's roughly $19 billion obligation for health care for more than 55,000 Chrysler retirees and 23,000 surviving spouses.

Union leadership had defended the deal as the best that could be won from the privately held automaker at a time when the American auto industry is looking to close factories and cut payrolls in response to a declining share of sales.

But the contract had faced opposition from rank-and-file workers and some union leaders over the past two weeks.

"Our members had to face some tough choices, and we had a solid, democratic debate about this contract," UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said. "Now we're going to come together as a union -- and now it's on the company to move ahead, increase their market share and continue to build great cars and trucks here in the United States."

The two sides had announced the tentative contract on October 10 after a six-hour strike at Chrysler.