U.S. Auto Union Grants Concessions to Big 3

United Auto Workers will suspend its controversial jobs bank, revise payments to its new health care trust fund, and consider modifications to its wage contracts to help Detroit`s “Big Three” get emergency loans from Congress.

Union president Ron Gettelfinger told a news conference in Detroit Wednesday that his group is willing to surrender job security and delay billions of dollars in payments to a union-run health care trust to help the three automakers.

The job bank, which grants eligible laid-off workers to up to 95 percent of their pay, could be suspended. The union will also let the cash-starved automakers delay billions of dollars in payments to a union-administered trust set to take over health care for retirees from 2010.

The union also agreed with the Big Three to renegotiate wages and other issues.

higgledy@donga.com