Chrysler, UAW in Accord on New Contract : Pact Follows Pattern Set by Ford and GM

The United Auto Workers union and Chrysler Corp. reached a tentative settlement Wednesday on a two-year national labor contract, following about 40 hours of nonstop bargaining.

“We achieved the full pattern settlement we set out to achieve, and we accepted no deviations from what we have in effect today at GM and Ford,” the union said in a statement attributed to UAW President Owen Bieber and Vice President Marc Stepp.

Chrysler and the UAW began negotiating April 18 on a contract to replace a three-year pact covering 66,000 UAW workers in 15 states, which expires in September.

The proposed national labor pact--which includes a $1,000 a worker signing bonus--will be presented Friday to the UAW’s 140-member national Chrysler council for approval. It will be submitted to the rank-and-file for a ratification vote sometime next week.

Anthony St. John, Chrysler’s chief bargainer, called the tentative agreement “affordable and equitable” and said the signing bonus was “in recognition of the UAW’s contribution to Chrysler’s productivity and profits during the past few years.”

UAW President Bieber told a news conference that the $1,000 signing bonus, when added to a $500 bonus Chrysler workers received in March, would equal the amount workers would have received in profit-sharing payments if the profit-sharing formula in the new contract had been in effect last year.

More Job Security

Negotiators adapted to Chrysler an industry-pattern contract established last fall at Ford Motor and General Motors.

The company also bowed to demands for guaranteed fixed levels of employment at all Chrysler plants. Workers with one year of seniority are protected under the plan and employment levels can only be reduced by attrition.

The contract would protect jobs by requiring companies to keep on the payroll workers whose jobs are eliminated for any reason except slow sales--until funding for the program runs out. It also requires hiring of one worker for every two who leave the company.

Chrysler will fund its program with $230 million.

The pattern also provides lump sum payments equal to 3% of base wages in 1989 and 1990 and includes the profit-sharing formula that has paid thousands of dollars to Ford workers over the past few years.

The pattern also forbids plant closings over the life of the contract except for those closings announced before negotiations began.

Unlike the GM or Ford contract, the Chrysler contract includes the company’s commitment that executives will receive neither cash nor stock bonuses in years when the profit-sharing formula produces no payout for workers.

St. John said that did not prevent executives from exercising stock options granted in previous years.

The contract also includes the union leadership’s commitment to encourage its local unions to consider accepting so-called Modern Operating Agreements -- Japanese-style agreements in which workers are organized into teams.

Bid to Ease Friction

The new contract will expire Sept. 14, 1990, meaning Chrysler will negotiate its next new contract at the same time as Ford and GM for the first time in a decade.