UAW: GM will make subcompacts in U.S.

General Motors Corp. agreed not to import Chinese-made subcompact cars to the U.S. as part of its concession deal with the United Auto Workers, union President Ron Gettelfinger said today.

Instead, the company will build up to 160,000 of the cars per year at an existing U.S. factory and sell them in the U.S., Gettelfinger said in a telephone interview with the Associated Press.


GM had said in documents submitted to Congress that it planned to produce up to 51,000 subcompacts per year in China and ship them to the U.S. starting in 2011.


A summary of the UAW-GM deal says an innovative labor agreement is needed for the company to produce tiny cars in the U.S. But Gettelfinger said that deal is near completion.


“I think basically we’re there,” he said. “There may have to be a few minor tweaks. The agreement that’s in place here is competitive.”


The deal, which freezes wages, cuts bonuses, reduces break time, and takes company stock to fund half of a $20 billion trust that will take on retiree health care expenses starting next year, will save GM more than $1 billion per year.


UAW members are scheduled to finish voting on the deal by 4 p.m. Friday, Gettelfinger said. At least one local, in Spring Hill, Tenn., already has approved it with 88% voting in favor.


GM’s plan to make the Chevrolet Spark subcompact in China and ship it to the U.S. drew criticism from the UAW and some members of Congress as it was negotiating the concession agreement. The plan was a political problem for the company, with the UAW saying it was wrong to take U.S. taxpayer loans and then ship jobs overseas.


GM has received $19.4 billion in federal loans and likely will get another $30 billion. The company likely will file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Monday.


Company spokeswoman Sherri Childers Arb would say only that GM won’t comment on its product plans.


GM will announce plans to close 14 more U.S. factories on Monday, shedding 21,000 jobs, but Gettelfinger said he didn’t know the locations of all the plans and would not reveal the ones he knows.


“The company has made it clear they will be making that announcement on their terms. We accept that. We understand that there’s some capacity issues there,” he said.


He also wouldn’t comment on GM’s potential bankruptcy filing.


“I just think that a lot of progress has been made in the last week,” he said. “That’s always a positive sign.”


Ford Motor Co. CEO Alan Mulally and its top labor negotiator both have said they will seek the same concessions that GM and Chrysler LLC got from the UAW so they are not placed at a disadvantage. Gettelfinger himself has said in the past he did not want Ford to be at a disadvantage.


But he wouldn’t say today whether the UAW will reopen talks with Ford, the only Detroit automaker that isn’t receiving government money.


The union, he said, is focused on Chrysler’s bankruptcy court hearings and the GM contract vote.


“Eventually we’ll come up for air and then we’ll pause and we’ll take a look around,” he said.