Health trust opens risks, opportunities for UAW

[OhioChick]

Mon Sep 17, 2007 6:01am EDT

DETROIT, Sept 17 (Reuters) - If United Auto Workers allows U.S automakers to buy their way out of a $100-billion health-care debt, as many now expect, the embattled union would face both new risks and new opportunities to exert its influence.

The issue of how to pay for increasingly expensive health care for 540,000 former U.S. auto workers and their surviving spouses is at the centre of complex and contentious talks now underway between the UAW and the Detroit-based automakers.

The UAW, which has focused its energy on talks with General Motors Corp. (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) since Thursday, is considering a proposal from the top U.S. automaker that would create a trust fund for retiree health care, people familiar with the talks have said.

Ford Motor Co. (F.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and privately held Chrysler LLC have also been in discussions with the UAW on parallel proposals, according to others close to those talks.

http://www.reuters.com/article/tnBasicIndustries-SP/idUSN1728551920070917