A person briefed on the talks said late Friday that the UAW selected Chrysler as its next bargaining target and would turn to Ford Motor Co. last. The person requested anonymity because the talks are private.

A message was left with Ford spokeswoman Marcey Evans seeking comment.

"We're happy with this stuff," he said.

GM spokesman Dan Flores said both UAW workers and the company benefit from the agreement. GM didn't release any specifics of the contract Friday; the company typically waits until the contract is ratified to make detailed comments.

"Not only does this new agreement enhance the security for employees and retirees, it enables GM to close competitive gaps in our business, and the projected competitive improvements will allow us to maintain a strong manufacturing presence in the U.S. with significant future investments," Flores said.

Gettelfinger said he hadn't yet decided whether the union would negotiate with Ford or Chrysler next, but he expects to make that call next week. Both automakers have extended their contracts with the union indefinitely.

The linchpin of the deal is a trust fund for retiree health care, known as a Voluntary Employees Beneficiary Association, or VEBA. GM, which has around 340,000 retirees and spouses, wanted to form the VEBA in order to get $51 billion in retiree health care debt off its books. The VEBA will be run by an independent board overseen by the UAW.

GM will put $24.1 billion into the VEBA in January 2008 and will pay an additional $5.4 billion to cover retirees' health care costs until the VEBA takes over in January 2010. GM also will make up to 20 additional $165 million payments -- to a maximum of $1.6 billion -- to the VEBA anytime the fund's level is insufficient to provide benefits for at least 25 years.

GM also will be required to pay cash interest on a $4.37 billion convertible note for the benefit of the VEBA. The fund's trustees will be able to convert that note to GM stock, which could be a windfall for the fund if GM's share price goes up. GM's active workers also will be required to contribute a small amount of their cost-of-living increases to the VEBA.

In a two-page letter to retirees sent Friday, the UAW sought to calm retirees' fears about the VEBA, saying the union supports the fund because it protects retirees' benefits in the event of a downturn or bankruptcy. Retirees don't get to vote on the contract.

The UAW was seeking to protect jobs and slow its falling membership in this contract, and Gettelfinger said GM responded with "unprecedented product guarantees." GM committed to building current or existing products at 16 of its 18 U.S. assembly plants, according to the UAW's summary. GM already has announced the closure of a plant in Doraville, Ga., in 2008. A midsize sport utility vehicle plant in Moraine, Ohio, wasn't listed because its workers are represented by the International Electronics Workers-Communications Workers of America.

The 16 factories either will continue building their current products or, in most cases, the next generation of those products. A plant in the Detroit area is scheduled to begin producing the electric Chevrolet Volt, one of GM's most anticipated products, in 2010, while a plant in Lordstown, Ohio, is set to get a new subcompact.

"The whole thing looks fantastic," said Dave Green, president of one of two local unions in Lordstown. The agreement, he said, preserves wages and health care for active workers "and we've done creative stuff that's going to make the company profitable in North America."

But the future of some plants may be in jeopardy.

GM's Orion Township plant, which will make the Pontiac G6 mid-sized car until 2013, and the Wilmington, Del. plant, which makes the Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky roadsters until 2012, do not have new vehicles listed on the UAW's summary.

Eldon Renaud, head of United Auto Workers Local 2164 in Bowling Green, Ky., said production of the Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky will move from Wilmington to his plant, leaving Wilmington's future in doubt.

The union said assembly line workers will get economic gains totaling $13,056 over the life of the four-year contract. They will get bonuses in each year of the contract, including a $3,000 bonus when the contract is ratified, as well as cost-of-living increases.

General Motors workers return to work today after the auto maker agreed to a new labor contract with the United Auto Workers union. The deal ends a two-day strike but questions remain just how much the deal will save GM.

Shares of GM rose $2.76, or 8.0%, to $37.18, after the company agreed to a tentative contract with the UAW. The UAW represents approximately 74,000 GM employees. The contract ends a national strike that began Monday and crippled GM's production.

The deal sets up a health care trust to pay for retiree healthcare benefits. GM will front the money for the trust while the UAW will run it. GM hopes the trust will help it close a $25-per-hour labor gap with foreign auto makers.

"This agreement helps us close the fundamental competitive gaps that exist in our business," said GM Chief Executive Rick Wagoner. "The projected competitive improvements in this agreement will allow us to maintain a strong manufacturing presence in the United States along with significant future investments."

But former Forbes senior editor Jerry Flint says that the health care trust won't reduce any costs. He explains the health care bill remains the same whether the UAW or GM is in charge. "A health care trust, if it happens, may look good today, but one day it will come back to haunt GM," says Flint.

The deal must now be approved by the rank-and-file union membership. The Securities and Exchange Commission must also review the contract.

One local in Flint, Mich., told workers on its Web site, "U.A.W. leaders set 11:00 a.m. as strike deadline. If a strike should occur, members are asked to refer to the letter handed out earlier," the notice, from Local 599, read.

Negotiations continued after the unexpected move by the union late Sunday night. Until then, the U.A.W. had extended its contract on an hour-by-hour basis, and the union's president, Ron Gettelfinger, told workers in a memo last week that the U.A.W. hoped to avoid a strike against G.M.

The law also required the unions to refund the fee to nonmembers who oppose the political activity proposed by the union.

The case involved the Washington Education Association, the state's largest teachers union. About 4,000 of the more than 70,000 people it represents choose not to be members, according to the union, which said Washington is the only state in the nation with such a law.

Lawyers for the state and the Bush administration urged the Supreme Court to uphold the law because it was designed to regulate campaign financing in state elections. The high court agreed in an opinion written by Justice Antonin Scalia.

"The purpose of the voters of Washington was undoubtedly the general one of protecting the integrity of elections by limiting electoral spending in certain ways," Scalia said.

"Quite obviously, no suppression of ideas is afoot, since the union remains as free as any other entity to participate in the electoral process with all available funds other than" those fees by nonmembers who refuse to give their approval, Scalia said.

The state of North Carolina is violating international freedom of association labor standards by prohibiting governmental entities from bargaining with unions, according to a decision released Tuesday by the International Labor Organization (ILO), the labor standards branch of the United Nations. North Carolina General Statute section 95-98 states:

Any agreement, or contract, between the governing authority of any city, town, county, or other municipality, or between any agency, unit, or instrumentality thereof, or between any agency, instrumentality, or institution of the State of North Carolina, and any labor union, trade union, or labor organization, as bargaining agent for any public employees of such city, town, county or other municipality, or agency or instrumentality of government, is hereby declared to be against the public policy of the State, illegal, unlawful, void and of no effect. (1959, c. 742.)
The ILO decision, which is not technically binding on North Carolina, requested that North Carolina repeal the statute.

The Public Service Workers Union and its parent union, the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE), brought the complaint in 2005.

On March 21, the California State University faculty voted overwhelmingly—94 percent—to authorize a strike for increased wages and benefits. The workers, represented by the California Faculty Association, have been working without a contract for over two years.

If a settlement is not reached by an April deadline, a series of two-day rolling strikes up and down the state will happen. 

This would mark the largest university strike in U.S. history with up to 24,000 workers participating.

Faculty pay is the primary sticking point. CSU's faculty members earn salaries much lower than faculty at other universities and even community colleges.

According to a report issued a year ago by the California Postsecondary Education Commission, based on a five-year trend, CSU faculty salaries were estimated to have fallen behind comparable institutions by 18 percent in the 2006-07 academic year. They were 16.8 percent lower than salaries for faculty at similar universities in the 2004-05 academic year.