UAW Expected to Ratify Pacts With Automakers

The United Auto Workers union this week is expected to ratify labor contracts with General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co.

The UAW reached a tentative four-year deal with Ford two weeks ago. A four-year contract with GM came three days later. A four-year deal with DaimlerChrysler -- the first of the Big Three automakers to reach a deal -- was ratified Friday.

Only sketchy details of the pacts have been disclosed. The UAW appears to have sacrificed generous wage increases that characterized the 1999 deals to maintain nearly cost-free health care. In exchange, according to sources familiar with the talks, the automakers apparently gained flexibility to close or sell plants to better align supply and demand. The 1999 pacts banned plant closings.

In addition to more than 300,000 automotive workers across the country, the contracts affect half a million retirees and their spouses.

The combined U.S. market share of the Big Three fell to an all-time monthly low of 57.9% in August, and Chrysler was outsold in the domestic market for the first time by Toyota Motor Corp.