Chrysler Workers Hit the Road

In the GM contract, the two parties agreed to set up a union-controlled health care trust fund, or VEBA. It also established a two-tier wage structure, allowing the company to pay new hires at a lower rate that is more comparable to its foreign-based competitors.

The VEBA will be expensive for GM in the near term as the it shells out cash to finance the fund, but in the long run, it promises to free the company from the crushing burden of its health care payments to retirees. That will lower GM's borrowing costs and boost the profitability of its auto operations, allowing the company more leeway to invest in new products and become a more formidable competitor.

Talks at Chrysler are centered on how much the automaker would pay to finance a VEBA. It has an estimated $18 billion in unfunded retiree health care costs. The automaker also is trying to get health care concessions from the UAW that were already granted to GM and Ford.

The UAW is seeking production guarantees at U.S. plants to preserve union jobs.