The handshakes and polite jokes are over. Now the real work begins for Detroit?s beleaguered automakers and the United Automobile Workers union. Union leaders will meet with negotiators from the three carmakers in the coming days to begin exchanging contract proposals. The current pact, reached in 2003, expires Sept. 14. Talks opened Monday at General Motors and the Ford Motor Company, after starting Friday at the Chrysler Group. After meeting with Ford officials, the president of the U.A.W., Ron Gettelfinger, said Monday that he wanted the new contract to last four years, like the one it is replacing, even though some analysts have suggested that a shorter agreement would be in the carmakers? interest.
See "Detroit Automakers and U.A.W. Roll Up Their Sleeves", Nick Bunkley, The New York Times, July 23, 2007