"He's a very credible individual, and we look forward to working with him." Ford's selection of the former Boeing Co. executive as CEO "is a prudent and smart move."

President Ron Gettelfinger said Thursday that the union broke off negotiations to grant health-care concessions to , citing an outside analysis that Chrysler does not have the same financial problems as its rivals.

In a news conference following his speech to the Detroit Economic Club, Gettelfinger said that, after reviewing an outside auditor's report commissioned by the union, his team decided a few days ago not to move forward on concession talks with the Auburn Hills-based unit of .

Gettelfinger agreed to health care concessions with and last year, with 61% of GM's UAW workers and just 51% of Ford's UAW workers voting to approve the packages. Chrysler, the only Detroit automaker currently profitable in North America, was seeking similar breaks by Sept. 30 on health care for its 130,582 active and retired union workforce.

"The analysis proved they are in a different situation at DaimlerChrysler than at Ford or General Motors," Gettelfinger said. "Sure they would like to get everything they can get. But I think they also recognize there's a different situation at Daimler than there is at General Motors and at Ford."

Chrysler spokesman David Elshoff says $1,400 per vehicle -- 7% of the average price -- goes toward health care. Chrysler spends $2.3 billion a year on health care for 360,000 hourly and salaried employees and their family members.

Chrysler workers at UAW Local 412 shared a flyer with the Free Press indicating a Sept. 14 vote on a tentative health-care agreement with Chrysler.

That vote will not happen, Gettelfinger said Thursday. Gettelfinger did say he will continue to talk with Chrysler about its health-care spending.

"We're not in the red," said Kenyon Hall, a 30-year-old DaimlerChrysler assembly worker in Belvidere, Ill. "Ford and GM are in different situations. If I was in their shoes and my company was losing money, I might feel a little differently. I might feel like I had to give something up."

Alex Wassell, 57-year-old skilled tradesman at the Warren stamping plant, said, if Chrysler wants health-care concessions, it should try to get them during contract negotiations next year.

"My feeling is every last dollar we give back to the automakers they use to reinvest in Mexico," Wassell said. "It shows you Gettelfinger and local union leadership still know which way the wind's blowing."

"Ron knows he can't get the health-care changes ratified by the membership or by the union leadership at Chrysler," Sean McAlinden, a labor analyst at the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, told Bloomberg. "The Chrysler Corp. didn't do its homework in selling this obvious reality to its own workers, but GM did."

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