AUTOS

UAW Balks at Signing Ford Contract: The United Auto Workers balked at signing a new three-year contract with Ford Motor Co. in a dispute over the timing of new paid holidays. The unusual post-negotiation squabble scuttled a ceremony at which UAW President Owen Bieber and Ford Chairman Harold Poling were to sign the new agreement. Ford spokesman David Caplan said the new deal, ratified by UAW-represented Ford workers last month, has been in effect since Oct. 4. The union wants assurances that Ford will not schedule its typical two-week model changeover shutdown during the Independence Day period in 1995 or 1996. Union bargainers won two new paid holidays in each of those years, creating four-day weekends around July 4. Ford could agree to move the vacation shutdown or let workers take other time off.