Gettelfinger to join DaimlerChrysler board

FRANKFURT -- United Auto Workers union head Ron Gettelfinger will join DaimlerChrysler's supervisory board, the company said on Monday.

Gettelfinger, 62, replaces outgoing UAW Vice President Nate Gooden on the supervisory board at the world's fifth-biggest carmaker, effective immediately. His term runs until 2008.

German union IG Metall traditionally gives the UAW one of the DaimlerChrysler board seats to which IG Metall is entitled under German labor law.

IG Metall and the UAW had a rare split last year -- since patched up -- when Gooden backed management's three-year strategy plan over the opposition of other labor leaders on the DaimlerChrysler board who said it relied too heavily on job cuts.