P.M. BRIEFING : UAW, Chrysler Agree on Pact Similar to Ford, GM Contracts

The United Auto Workers and Chrysler Corp. agreed today on a new national contract, and UAW President Owen Bieber said its terms were similar to those of contracts with the nation’s two biggest auto makers.

“We have achieved a pattern settlement for our members here at Chrysler,” Bieber said after a private meeting with Chrysler Chairman Lee A. Iacocca. He declined to discuss details of the pact before it is presented to union leaders and rank-and-file members.

An extension of the contract covering 63,000 Chrysler workers in eight states expired at midnight Monday, but the union urged members to stay on the job while talks--said to be snagged on job security, health care and pensions--continued through the night.

The UAW already had reached new contracts with General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. and said it hoped to take many of the same provisions to Chrysler, which was in more precarious financial shape and had said it might be unable to afford the GM-Ford pattern agreement.