DETROIT: The United Automobile Workers union has already seen two strikes and significant dissent in this years round of U.S. contract talks, but the fight could be just beginning as the union turns to its last bargaining partner, Ford Motor.

Most analysts agree that Ford is in dire financial straits and needs more help from the UAW than General Motors and Chrysler.

Ford, the No. 2 U.S. automaker after GM, lost more than $12 billion last year and has mortgaged its assets to finance its turnaround plan. That plan calls for the closure of 16 plants by 2012.

But the union needs to persuade its members that it is getting the best agreement possible or it will be unable to get members to ratify the agreement. Members may be looking for the kinds of job security agreements GM granted in its contract, which promised new products for 16 of its U.S. assembly plants.

Chrysler did not make such extensive promises and its contract was approved by a narrower margin. Ford is not in a position to guarantee future jobs, either, said Erich Merkle, vice president of auto industry forecasting for the consulting firm IRN. Fords U.S. market share has been steadily dropping, to about 15 percent this year from 26 percent in the early 1990s, and it is using less than 80 percent of its U.S. plant capacity.

“Ford has to close plants,” Merkle said. “I dont know how Ford can provide a lot of security going forward in terms of jobs.” Merkle added, “That made it difficult at Chrysler to get the contract passed, but if you think its a problem for Chrysler, its even a bigger problem for Ford.”

Chrysler workers ratified their contract in voting that ended Saturday. The UAW said 56 percent of production workers and 51 percent of skilled trades workers voted in favor of the pact. The percentages voting in favor were much higher among clerical workers and engineers represented by the union.

The union reached the agreement with Chrysler on Oct. 10 following a six-hour strike. Like an agreement ratified earlier by GM workers, the Chrysler contract establishes a union-run trust to cover retirees health care and allows the company to pay lower wages of $14 an hour to about 11,000 noncore, nonassembly workers. Chrysler assembly workers now make a starting wage of $28.75 an hour.

The new contract covers about 45,000 active workers at Chrysler and more than 55,000 Chrysler retirees and 23,000 surviving spouses. It will expire on Sept. 14, 2011.

“We are pleased that our UAW employees recognize that the new agreement meets the needs of the company and its employees by providing a framework to improve our long-term manufacturing competitiveness,” Tom LaSorda, Chryslers vice chairman and president, said in a statement. LaSorda was the companys chief negotiator.

At GM, 66 percent of workers ratified the deal. But at Chrysler, many workers were angered by the contract because it made fewer promises than GMs did. Some workers also were upset about the two-tier wage structure.

Jeffery Cole, 48, of Rockford, Illinois, who has worked 13 years for Chrysler, the last two in Belvidere, Illinois, as a quality inspector, said he did not like the idea “that a guy working next to me may have to settle for a less wage.”

The UAW president, Ron Gettelfinger, said in a statement, “Our members had to face some tough choices, and we had a solid, democratic debate about this contract.” He added, “Now were going to come together as a union - and now its on the company to move ahead, increase their market share and continue to build great cars and trucks here in the U.S.”

As recently as Tuesday the pact was losing after large local units voted it down, but workers at four Michigan plants had a strong turnout on Wednesday and voted largely in favor.

Gary Chaison, a labor specialist at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, said the UAW turned things around with heavy lobbying at the remaining plants.

“They put forth the view, very effectively, that this was the best they could do at the time,” Chaison said. “Its not that this was a strong agreement, but that if we reject the agreement, were going into a world of uncertainty.”

Chaison said many workers felt it was not a good time for a fight. Chrysler became a private company in August. It has recently overhauled management and is reviewing its products.

Chaison said Ford would most likely try to head off opposition to the contract with carrots like a profit-sharing plan. But he said Ford could still face a strike as the UAW tries to show workers it is bargaining hard.

(09-20) 08:44 PDT NEW YORK, (AP) —

Stocks slipped Thursday as Wall Street, still pleased about the Federal Reserve’s rate cut but sobered a bit by mixed earnings reports, stopped to cash in profits from this week’s rally.

Wall Street held onto most of its gains, though, thanks to a strong third-quarter results from Goldman Sachs and a drop in jobless claims. The Labor Department said jobless claims declined by 9,000 last week Д a good sign for the economy, particularly given August’s decrease in payrolls.

Investors were also relieved that Goldman Sachs Group Inc. reported a surprisingly large 79 percent rise in profit, and managed to hedge losses in subprime mortgages during the tumultuous third quarter. In August, stocks plunged and credit markets tightened up due largely to problems in the housing market.

Bear Stearns & Cos. didn’t weather the storm as well, and suffered a larger-than-anticipated 62 percent profit drop. Electronics retailer Circuit City Stores Inc. also posted a big quarterly loss that troubled Wall Street, and FedEx Corp. disappointed investors by lowering its outlook for the year.

The Dow Jones industrials has surged about 400 points since the Fed’s rate cut Tuesday, and now, investors now appear unsure where to take the market.

The market is likely to be driven by earnings over the coming weeks, said Doug Roberts, chief investment strategist for Channel Capital Research. “The market will start to stabilize. You’ll see some backing and filling in the market, which you’re seeing right now,” he said.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’s testimony Thursday about the mortgage and credit markets before the House Financial Services Committee gave the markets little direction. Bernanke said the credit crisis has created “significant market stress” and reassured the market that regulators are willing to step in to curb the fallout, but did not hint at what the central bank’s next move on interest rates might be.

In late morning trading, the Dow slipped 10.16, or 0.07 percent, to 13,805.40.

Broader stock indexes also declined modestly. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 3.15, or 0.21 percent, to 1,525.88, and the technology-dominated Nasdaq composite index fell 1.98, or 0.07 percent, to 2,664.50.

Bonds fell, pushing the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note up to 4.60 percent from 4.52 percent late Wednesday.

In other economic data Thursday, the Conference Board’s August index of leading economic indicators declined, as expected.

Wall Street is split on what the Fed will do when it meets again in October Д many predict a quarter-point rate decrease, but others expect policy makers to keep the target fed funds rate steady at 4.75 percent.

The main reason the central bank may be against another rate cut is the risk of inflation. Core inflation, which strips out food and energy prices, has been stable in recent months, but could accelerate if the effects of high food and energy prices trickle down to other consumer prices.

“The one thing we’re going to be susceptible to is data shocks, especially on the inflation front,” Roberts said.

Crude oil prices crept further into record territory on the New York Mercantile Exchange, rising 25 cents to $82.18 a barrel. Gold prices also rose, extending their recent streak.

Meanwhile, the dollar fell to a new low against the euro, which surpassed $1.40 for the first time since the 13-nation currency was introduced in 1999. A weak dollar is a double-edged sword for the U.S. economy Д it makes imported goods more expensive for Americans, but it makes U.S. exports cheaper, and thus more attractive, to foreign buyers.

Earlier Thursday, Nasdaq Stock Market Inc. and Borse Dubai said they reached a deal under which Nasdaq will take over Nordic bourse operator OMX AB, and Borse Dubai will buy about 20 percent of Nasdaq and 28 percent of the London stock exchange.

Nasdaq rose $1.95, or 5.4 percent, to $37.97.

Goldman shares rose $3.30 to $208.80 after releasing its earnings, while Bear Stearns shares rose $3.13 to $118.77.

Circuit City plunged $2.05, or 20 percent, to $8.52, and FedEx fell $2.74, or 2.6 percent, to $104.77.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by about 3 to 2 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 421.2 million shares.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies was down 3.26, or 0.40 percent, at 814.14.

In European trading, Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 0.56 percent, Germany’s DAX index fell 0.12 percent, and France’s CAC-40 fell 0.73 percent.

In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei index rose 0.20 percent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.57 percent.

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STOCKHOLM: The Scandinavian airline SAS said Sunday that it would stop using Dash 8 Q400 aircraft after a series of crash landings, the latest on Saturday in Copenhagen.

The airline, which has 27 of the planes, had only recently resumed flights of the Q400 turboprops after it had been forced to ground its fleet following two crash landings last month in Lithuania and Denmark.

The decision to discontinue use of the Q400 planes, built by the Canadian company Bombardier, came after a weekend board meeting.

No one was seriously injured in any of the three crash landings, which all involved problems with landing gear. The planes are designed for regional services and carry up to 78 passengers.

“Confidence in the Q400 has diminished considerably and our customers are becoming increasingly doubtful about flying in this type of aircraft,” Mats Jansson, the SAS chief executive, said in a statement.

The deputy chief executive, John Dueholm, added that because of “repeated quality-related problems,” there was a risk that use of the Q400 could damage the SAS brand.

“The aim is to replace traffic based on the Q400 by reallocating current aircraft in the SAS groups fleet and by means of leasing,” the statement said.

An SAS spokesman, Olof Rundgren, said SAS had cancelled 52 flights on Sunday and another 13 on Monday, up from an earlier statement that 57 flights would be cancelled over the two days.

Scandinavian aviation authorities Saturday also issued a new flight ban on all SASs Q400 planes.

SAS has said it would seek compensation of about 500 million kronor, or $78 million, from Bombardier. Rundgren said the company was likely to have more information Monday about the costs of the decision.

Bombardier said it was cooperating fully with SAS and that the investigating aviation authorities had sent a product safety and technical team to the Copenhagen crash site.

Rundgren added that SAS would continue to use its 17 Dash 8 Q100 and 10 Q300 planes.