DETROIT (Reuters) - The United Auto Workers has finalized a tentative agreement with Ford Motor Co on contract changes the automaker has sought to bring its labor costs in line with those of U.S. rivals, the union said on Tuesday.
The UAW will present the tentative pact to its National Ford Council delegates on Tuesday afternoon in Detroit and then put it to a member vote should the group agree, it said.
Ford, the only large U.S. automaker not to undergo a government-supported bankruptcy in 2009, has aimed at bringing its contract in line with those of General Motors Co and Chrysler Group LLC, which received deeper union concessions earlier in 2009.
Ford opened talks with the UAW on the latest concession requests on August 25 for changes to a historic four-year contract from 2007 that covers about 42,000 workers.
The UAW reached four-year contracts with all three Detroit automakers in 2007 but has agreed to make unprecedented mid-contract concessions to the companies amid the severe recession and deep downturn in auto industry sales.
(Reporting by Soyoung Kim, David Bailey and Kevin Krolicki, editing by Gerald E. McCormick)
