By John Porretto
The Associated Press

DETROIT - The United Auto Workers wrapped up tentative labor contracts with the Big Three automakers Thursday and concluded two months of talks in which a common yet unprecedented theme emerged: Labor and management sought to take a joint stand against foreign competitors.

"Since the start of these negotiations, one of our goals was to bring this industry together," UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said Thursday after the UAW reached terms on tentative, four-year contracts with General Motors Corp. and supplier Delphi Corp.

The agreements were announced more than three days after previous labor pacts expired.

The UAW earlier this week reached tentative agreements, also for four years, with Ford Motor Co., DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group and supplier Visteon Corp.

Only sketchy details of the pacts have been disclosed. The UAW appears to have sacrificed generous wage increases that characterized the 1999 deals to maintain nearly cost-free health care. In exchange, according to sources familiar with the talks, the automakers apparently gained flexibility to close or sell plants to better align supply and demand.

The 1999 pacts banned plant closings.

All agreements require ratification by rank-and-file union members, a process that's expected to take place within the next 10 days. The GM pact generally mirrors the others in economic terms, Gettelfinger said, but he declined to discuss details.

In addition to more than 300,000 automotive workers across the country, the contracts affect another half-million retirees and their spouses.

The new contracts were negotiated during an era when the U.S. market share for GM, Ford and the Chrysler division of DaimlerChrysler is at an all-time low, and foreign automakers continue to expand domestic lineups and capacity.

Gerald Meyers, the former chairman of American Motors Corp. and now a faculty member at the University of Michigan, said the two sides seemed to have a mutual goal.

"That end is to beat the daylights out of the Japanese," Meyers said.

The combined U.S. market share of the Big Three fell to an all-time monthly low of 57.9 percent in August, while Chrysler was outsold in the domestic market for the first time by Toyota Motor Corp.

GM Chairman Rick Wagoner said he noted a new recognition from both sides about their respective issues.

"As far as I'm concerned both sides have taken the time to understand each other and the issues and come up with an agreement that meets the needs of our employees, the UAW and ... General Motors," Wagoner said.

GM, the world's largest automaker, has 115,000 active UAW workers and another 340,000 retirees and spouses. Delphi, which has 30,000 UAW workers, was spun off from GM in 1999, and the automaker remains its biggest customer.