Chrysler labor deal backed by secret product pledge

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Reuters

DETROIT, - The tentative contract between Chrysler LLC and the United Auto Workers union is supported by previously undisclosed product commitments to select U.S. factories that go beyond the 2011 expiration of the proposed deal, people familiar with the matter said on Monday.

Ratification of the Chrysler contract by almost 49,000 UAW-represented factory workers has been thrown into jeopardy this week after major union locals voted to reject the deal.

Some of the opposition has been focused on criticism from union dissidents who say that the UAW failed to secure the same explicit investment guarantees for U.S. factories at Chrysler that it won from its larger rival General Motors Corp (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research).

But UAW Vice-President General Holifield told local union leaders on Monday that Chrysler's Sterling Heights, Michigan assembly plant would be guaranteed production until 2016 under a previously undisclosed understanding between the union and the privately held automaker, according to a person familiar with that briefing.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/tnBasicIndustries-SP/idUSN2218845820071022