(Adds details of Ford agreement, ties with Visteon)
By Justin Hyde
DETROIT, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co. will reverse a decision to close its St. Louis assembly plant and provide additional work to its Atlanta plant under a tentative deal with the United Auto Workers, a top union official said on Friday.
In return for the St. Louis plant, which had been slated for closure as part of the automaker's cost-cutting plans, Ford will be allowed to close its smaller Lorain, Ohio, assembly plant, company and union sources said.
In addition to Lorain, Ford will close three other plants and has a right to sell a Michigan forging plant over the next four years, according to a summary of the tentative deal obtained by Reuters.
Those plants are among at least 10 plants slated to close or be sold under the UAW's new labor contracts with Detroit's automakers, which were hammered out over the past week and aimed at making the U.S. auto industry more competitive with foreign rivals.
The moves are in line with Ford's vow to follow through on plans to cut at least 12,000 hourly workers as part of its turnaround plan, and with the union's goal to keep as many plants as possible running in the United States.
UAW International Vice President Gerald Bantom told Reuters that the St. Louis plant, which employs about 2,600 people and builds the Ford Explorer, Mercury Mountaineer and Lincoln Aviator SUVs, would be the beneficiary of a package of business incentives from the state of Missouri set to be announced next week.
He also said the plant in the Atlanta suburb of Hapeville would get new business; the plant, with about 2,100 workers, had been scheduled to build only the aging Ford Taurus sedan through the remainder of the decade.
"St. Louis is fine. Atlanta is fine," he said.
The Lorain plant currently builds Ford Econoline large vans and employs about 1,640 people, and its production will be consolidated into another Ohio plant.
A Ford spokeswoman declined comment. A company source had said the St. Louis-Lorain deal would include generous benefits for workers faced with losing their jobs.
Union officials had been upset about Ford's plans to close or wind down plants in the United States while building a new mid-size family sedan at its plant in Hermosillo, Mexico, and at least two new mid-size sport utility vehicles at another facility in Oakville, Ontario.
VISTEON PROMISES
The Ford-UAW deal also includes a two-tier wage system for Visteon Corp., Ford's former parts arm and largest supplier, as well as pledges of more Ford work for Visteon, to help the struggling auto parts maker compete.
Under the terms of Visteon's spinoff agreement with Ford, Visteon's hourly UAW workers are technically paid by Ford, and enjoy lifetime employment guarantees. Wages for Visteon UAW workers typically run about $25 a hour, while many U.S. parts suppliers pay roughly $16 a hour for unionized workers, with workers in Mexico paid far less.
According to the summary of the tentative deal obtained by Reuters, Visteon will be allowed to hire new employees at a rate determined by a benchmark with other UAW-represented parts workers.
In addition, Visteon must make "definitive, enforceable" pledges to improve and add new business to UAW-represented plants. And Ford must make similar pledges to award business to UAW-represented Visteon plants "to assure their long-term viability."