Contract Allows GM to Shut 2 Plants

The tentative new contract between GM and United Auto Workers allows the company to shutter two plants and possibly several other facilities, according to a copy of the pact obtained by the AP. The union concessions on plants in Indianapolis and suburban Detroit were made in exchange for guarantees of new product lines in other union-represented plants. Union members will begin voting on whether to accept the contract this week.

"The UAW didn't win anything," said one union critic. "The plants that are allowed to stay operating were already allowed to stay open." The head of the union, however, said GM has offered workers "unprecedented product guarantees." Under the deal, GM won the right to shift past and current health care costs into a union-run trust, and to pay new non-production employees lower wages. (More General Motors stories.)