UAW Local Leaders Ponder Chrysler Deal

DETROIT – Local-level leaders with the United Auto Workers union are expected to meet this morning to decide if they will recommend rank-and-file ratification of a tentative agreement with Chrysler.

The union and the auto maker announced early today a tentative deal had been reached, thereby avoiding the prospect of a costly arbitration process.

“We have shown cooperation and collective bargaining work,” says UAW President Bob King.

Arbitration was the only alternative to a stalemate because of a no-strike pledge made by the UAW to accommodate Chrysler’s government-aided Chapter 11 exit in 2009.

“Less than three years ago, Chrysler was teetering on the edge of bankruptcy as our nation was thrown into the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression,” UAW President Bob King says in a statement.

The proposed deal promises 2,100 new Chrysler jobs for UAW members by 2015, when then contract is set to expire.

“This tentative agreement, coupled with the new agreements at General Motors and Ford, bring more than 20,000 new jobs to communities across America,” King adds, referring to recently struck deals with Chrysler’s cross-town competitors.

GM workers have ratified their contract, and Ford workers are voting now. Chrysler declines comment on its deal until the ratification process is complete.

“Together with the jobs created in suppliers and other businesses supported by auto manufacturing, a total of 180,000 jobs will be added to the country’s battered economy,” King says.

“Through collective bargaining and working together with the domestic auto makers, we have shown that cooperation and collective bargaining work.”

The tentative agreement covers some 3,000 workers. If they approve the deal, Chrysler will invest $4.5 billion in its operations for “retooling and upgrades” to ensure the smooth rollout of future product.

“This agreement is the latest in a remarkable turnaround for Chrysler,” says UAW Vice President General Holiefield, who heads the union’s Chrysler department.

Through September, Chrysler sales were tracking 22.9% ahead of like-2010 on the strength of 18-consecutive monthly year-over-year gains, according to WardsAuto data.

The auto maker paid back its government loans in May, six years before they were due.

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