UAW gives nod to concessions

Worried about their jobs and warned that the cost of bankruptcy could be a widespread depression, hundreds of leaders of the United Auto Workers voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to make concessions to struggling US automakers, including all but ending a much-derided program that let laid-off workers collect up to 95 percent of their salaries.

"Everybody has to give a little bit," said Rich Bennett, an official for Local 122 in Twinsburg, Ohio, representing Chrysler workers. "We've made concessions. We really feel we're doing our part."

Union leaders also agreed to let the cash-starved automakers delay billions of dollars in payments to a union-administered trust set to take over healthcare for blue-collar retirees starting in 2010.