UAW contracts' national impact

0 Comments | USA TODAY, December, 2007 | by Sharon Silke Carty

DETROIT -- At the kickoff to the United Auto Workers negotiations with Detroit automakers last summer, union President Ron Gettelfinger insisted the new contracts would not stray radically from past versions.

But labor experts say the four-year contracts with General Motors, Ford Motor and Chrysler are indeed transformational. And they could reverberate throughout the manufacturing sector and even into the public sector as companies and government bodies look for ways to alter their cost structures.

The UAW agreed to some radical changes, including taking control of retiree health care and allowing lower wages for new workers.

"What a huge sea change," says Sean McAlinden of the Center for Automotive Research. "A lot of people, the rank and file,...