If there was a script that automakers were supposed to follow for UAW contract talks, Chrysler seems to have overlooked it. As negotiations continued Monday at Chrysler LLC's Auburn Hills headquarters, the United Auto Workers set a deadline of Wednesday morning to agree on a new contract, or else workers could strike. The deadline may be a tactic the union is using to squeeze some more concessions from the company. But it also may be that Chrysler isn't simply going to agree to the same terms that General Motors Corp. did last month just because that's how it's traditionally done. Chrysler's needs are different from GM's requirements, analysts said, so a deal requires cost cuts in different places.
See "Chrysler deal may not follow GM pattern", Tom Krisher, Minneapolis Star Tribune, October 8, 2007