DETROIT — Concession talks between the United Auto Workers and the Detroit Three shifted into an odd phase Saturday as negotiations broke off with General Motors Corp., slowed at Chrysler LLC and picked up speed at Ford Motor Co., financially the healthiest of the three, according to people briefed on the bargaining.
The developments come as GM and Chrysler race toward a Tuesday deadline to submit plans to show the government how they will become viable and repay billions in loans that are keeping them alive during the worst auto-sales slump in 26 years.
Ford, which borrowed billions from private sources before credit tightened, has said it can make it through 2009 without government help.
The Treasury Department has committed to giving GM a total of $13.4 billion if the automaker’s plan is approved. GM’s plan, however, will raise the possibility that more government loans might be needed, as sales in overseas markets have deteriorated worse than expected, according to a person briefed on the plan.
That means GM may seek another $5 billion, raising the loan amount to about $18 billion, the amount that GM sought when it made a presentation to Congress in December.
On Friday night, union negotiators walked out of talks with GM in a dispute over funding of a union-administered trust that will take over retiree health care expenses next year, a person briefed on the talks said Saturday.
At Chrysler, talks have slowed considerably, but the union is negotiating heavily with Dearborn-based Ford, according to another person briefed on the talks.
Neither person wanted to be identified because the talks are private.
