Two down and one to go

USA: By an overall majority of 86%, UAW members have ratified a new, four-year contract for hourly and salaried employees at DaimlerChrysler. For the first time in more than 20 years, the 3% annual wage increase in each year of the contract has been restored, and for the first time in 28 years, the contract has improved the COLA formula, which protects UAW DaimlerChrysler members in the event of increases in the cost-of-living. The agreement also provides for a US$1,350 up-front bonus, higher pensions, as well as a job security program requiring the company to hire new workers when employment declines below certain defined levels and a guarantee that 1,200 new skilled trades apprentices will be hired. For further details of the settlement, see associated link.
UAW negotiators also announced that they reached tentative contract agreements with General Motors Corp. late Tuesday, September 28, which would cover, at U.S. facilities, 140,000 hourly workers at General Motors and 48,000 at Delphi Automotive Systems, a parts unit spun off by GM. As usual, details of the pact will not be released until UAW workers have been consulted, but it is expected the terms will follow along the lines of the contract negotiated with DaimlerChrysler.
The last of the "Big Three" U.S. automakers, Ford Motor Co., has still to conclude an agreement with the UAW.