Chrysler Reaches Tentative Pact With Canadian Union

TORONTO — Chrysler Corp. and union negotiators agreed Thursday on a new contract that could send some of the company’s 10,000 striking workers back to the assembly lines by the weekend and head off more layoffs at U.S. plants.

The Canadian Auto Workers union announced the proposed settlement shortly after meeting with the company, whose Canadian workers walked off the job at four assembly and parts plants in Ontario province when their two-year contract expired at midnight Monday.

Chrysler’s Canadian subsidiary said some employees could return to work by late Sunday if the tentative three-year labor pact is ratified at weekend meetings by the rank and file.

Pact Will Cover 85 Plants

Announcement of the Canadian agreement came as the United Auto Workers union and Ford Motor Co. reached a tentative agreement in Dearborn, Mich., on a three-year contract providing about 104,000 U.S. hourly workers with higher wages and more job security.

If approved, the U.S. pact will cover workers at the No. 2 car maker’s 85 plants in 20 states. Job security was the UAW’s top priority as it entered talks with Ford on July 28.

Chrysler Canada and union negotiators reached agreement on a new labor pact after the auto maker presented its third money offer. Bargaining subcommittees had met through the night on in-plant issues.

The proposed settlement should end threats of widespread layoffs among employees at U.S. assembly facilities relying on Canadian parts, or at components plants that ship to factories in Canada. Some 2,000 U.S. workers were laid off Monday.

The break in the stalemate came earlier when union President Robert White and senior Chrysler officials verbally agreed to a scheme--a first among major industrial unions--to meet the key demand for indexing pension increases to inflation rates for future retirees, sources said.