No health care concessions for Chrysler group, Gettelfinger says

AUTOMOTIVE NEWS | David Barkholz | DETROIT -- The UAW won't agree to concessions on health care costs with the Chrysler group as it did with General Motors and Ford Motor Co. this year, UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said today.

Gettelfinger said the union's financial advisers had looked at the Chrysler group's financial situation, and he didn't see a way the UAW would go forward with concessions on health care.

Gettelfinger said there was "no mechanism for an agreement."

Chrysler's financial situation is different from that of GM and Ford, Gettelfinger said.

Under programs previously approved at Ford and GM, active UAW workers forgo some future pay increases and face higher co-payments for prescription drugs. UAW retirees with pension incomes of more than $8,000 a year will start paying monthly premiums, deductibles and co-payments for health care.

There won't be a union vote on the issue, Gettelfinger said today in a press conference after a speech here to the Detroit Economic Club.

Gettelfinger said the union is still discussing health care costs with the Chrysler group.