Workers on early Wednesday in Detroit, Michigan, geared up for an 11 a.m. walkout deadline as Chrysler LLC and the United Auto Workers union remained sequestered in all-night negotiations.
As of 6 a.m. U.S. East Coast time, negotiators for the two sides were still at the table after talking through the night for the second straight night. The union represents about 45,000 workers at 24 U.S. manufacturing facilities and other sites.
Tom LaSorda, the president of Chrysler and UAW President Ron Gettelfinger were involved in the current round of negotiations, a source familiar with the talks told CNNMoney.com, although he could not say if they were in the room as of 6 a.m.
Gettelfinger sent out a note to local presidents Monday in which he said that Chrysler had "thus far failed to make an offer that adequately addresses the needs of our membership" But he stopped short of saying there would need to a complete agreement on a new contract to avoid a strike.
The union is trying to use the deal reached at General Motors on Sept. 26 after a two-day strike as the pattern for an agreement with Chrysler.
That deal, which is undergoing a rank-and-file ratification process that is expected to be concluded Wednesday, shifts about $51 billion in future costs to provide healthcare to retirees and their family members to a union-controlled trust fund. It also provided the union job guarantees in the form of commitments to build future GM products at U.S. plants.
Chrysler began the negotiations looking for health care cost concessions that the UAW already granted to GM and Ford in 2005. Bargaining also has centered on how much Chrysler would pay into a company-funded, union-run trust that would take over its unfunded retiree health care costs, estimated at 18 billion U.S. dollars.
Also at issue are the union's desire for job security pledges at U.S. factories and Chrysler's wish to contract out work now done by higher-wage union members, according to a person briefed on the talks. The person requested anonymity because the talks are private.
Source:Xinhua/agencies
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