GM Takes $1.6 Bln. 3Q Loss; Sets Health-Care Deal with UAW

eneral Motors Corp. took a $1.6 billion loss in the third quarter, but said it had reached a tentative agreement with the United Auto Workers union to trim health-care costs, Bloomberg reported Monday.

The tentative agreement with the UAW cuts GM’s long-term retiree health-care liabilities by about $15 billion and reduces employee health-care expenses by about $3 billion a year on a pretax basis, GM said in a statement.

The union’s potential concessions — which still must be ratified — and the possible sale of General Motors Acceptance Corp. answer two fundamental questions for the larges U.S. automaker, Bloomberg said: how labor and lending costs can be slashed.