UAW Offers Detroit Concessions

An angry Ron Gettelfinger, president of the United Auto Workers, said yesterday that his union was ready to make new concessions despite a landmark cost-cutting labor contract signed just last year, as he urged Congress and the Bush administration to step forward with a multibillion dollar rescue plan for Detroit's beleaguered automakers.

The UAW, whose membership at the Big Three Detroit car manufacturers has dropped by half in the past five years, said it would let General Motors, Ford and Chrysler delay payments owed to a massive health-care fund for retired workers and suspend a program that pays laid off workers for up to two years.

Gettelfinger made the new concessions reluctantly, complaining that the federal government was stepping in to rescue financial institutions while letting the car companies dangle near collapse. "I'm having a little problem myself understanding why there's a double standard here," he told reporters after a meeting of union leadership. "But we accept it and we'll play by those rules."

Despite the union's moves, the chances for a government bailout -- which GM and Chrysler say they need before the end of the month to avert financial collapse -- remained uncertain at best. Democratic leadership aides said prospects for the $28 billion to $38 billion package sought by the companies were dim in the House. Auto industry sources said that House members were being flooded with mail from constituents opposed to federal help for the companies.

The White House, however, appeared to leave all possibilities open. Spokeswoman

Dana Perino said the administration, which has urged Congress to divert $25 billion in funds authorized last year to promote fuel efficiency, needed more time to evaluate the plans.

"I think that to the American people, that giving $25 billion in taxpayer dollars to a specific industry is generous," Perino said. "But these are very serious times, and I'm sure the companies have spent a lot of time thinking through what they think they will need."

The union's concessions came as top executives for the companies made the rounds in Washington to rally support for a federal bailout of the auto industry.

During an interview at the Washington Post, Ford chief executive Alan R. Mulally said he was pressing Congress for money even though his company currently does not need federal help because if any of Ford's rivals collapsed, the pain would spread to suppliers and Ford itself.

Mulally, who said he drove from Detroit in a hybrid Ford Escape, said he saw no sign of improvement in the economy. He acknowledged that the automakers' public pleas for help are likely scaring off buyers.

"This conversation is hurting us," Mulally said.

The president of Chrysler, Jim Press, stopped at an auto dealership in New Carrollton where dealers and local officials said the collapse of the automakers would spread pain far beyond Detroit. "If we don't get these loans, and for some reason we have to stop producing cars," Press said, "the dealers would have no business. It's catastrophic."