U.A.W. Chiefs Unanimously Back G.M. Accord

DETROIT, Sept. 28 - United Automobile Workers leaders at General Motors unanimously approved on Friday a new four-year pact that calls for G.M. to invest .9 billion in a health care trust that would take liability for some retiree benefits off the company's books.

G.M. also agreed to invest in 16 American factories, in a step that the U.A.W.'s president, Ron Gettelfinger, called "unprecedented product guarantees" and "a total moratorium on outsourcing."

The union has previously tried to win pledges from G.M. to not send work outside the company, only to see G.M. close factories and cut thousands of jobs.

Still, details of the contract, explained in a brochure distributed to union leaders, showed that there were gains for both G.M. and the U.A.W. in the pact, which now goes to workers for a vote.

Informational meetings will start this weekend at union locals around the country, and Mr. Gettelfinger said he expected the rank and file to ratify the contract by Oct. 10.

The centerpiece of the new contract is a voluntary employee benefit association, or VEBA, a health care trust that would assume responsibility for the benefits G.M. expects to pay its retirees. G.M. estimates its liability at more than billion.

The trust requires court and regulatory approval that is expected to take about two years. Once the trust is established, G.M. will make an initial investment of .1 billion. It told the union that it would invest .8 billion in following years, bringing the total to .9 billion.

G.M. pledged to provide more, up to an additional .6 billion over 20 years, if the trust's investments do not achieve the earnings that G.M. expects.

The VEBA would take effect Jan. 1, 2010. Until then, G.M. would pay .4 billion to maintain the current retiree health plan.

Along with taking the liability off G.M.'s books, the trust would protect workers in the event of a bankruptcy, because its assets would not be held by G.M.

When the contract is signed, the company will pay each worker a ,000 bonus. They will also receive lump-sum payments in the next three years, but those will not be folded into wages.

Over the four years of the contract, those bonuses and cost-of-living pay increases will, on average, be worth an estimated ,056 more for each worker than the previous agreement, the brochure said.

G.M. also will permanently hire 3,000 workers who are now temporary. They will then receive regular wages and benefits.

Wages for an assembly worker will increase to .85 after four years, rather than the .12 level under the current contract. Certain "noncore" positions will be split into a two-tiered system, under which new hires will earn to .61 an hour.

The agreement continues an often-criticized provision known as the jobs bank, which enables workers to receive pay and benefits after being laid off, but Mr. Gettelfinger said the deal would have new restrictions on the duration of eligibility.

Among G.M.'s commitments to the union was a promise to build the Chevrolet Volt, a hybrid electric car, in the plant in Hamtramck, Mich., starting in 2010. The Volt is a pet project of G.M.'s vice chairman, Robert A. Lutz, who said Friday that G.M. was pleased with the contract.

"Anything that improves America's competitiveness is great, and this contract we believe very seriously does," Mr. Lutz said in an interview Friday.

Local leaders attending this morning's meeting said much of it was spent discussing the health care trust. Some union members oppose the concept, but many leaders said they expected their members to ratify the deal.

Eldon Renaud, president of U.A.W. Local 2164, said he was "very excited" about news that G.M.'s plant in Bowling Green, Ky., which makes the Cadillac XLR and Chevrolet Corvette, would add production of the Saturn Sky and Pontiac Solstice in 2012.

He said work on the new cars would probably bring the plant up to two full shifts. Car plants with just one shift of production are seen as vulnerable to shutdowns.

Mr. Renaud said he expected the plant's employment to triple, from the current 960 workers.

"I'm just elated," he said. "My feet haven't touched the ground."

The U.A.W.'s previous contract with the Detroit automaker expired Sept. 14. The union still must negotiate deals with the Ford Motor Company and Chrysler.

Micheline Maynard contributed reporting from New York, and Mary M. Chapman from Detroit.