Despite an all-out effort by the UAW bureaucracy to get the measure passed, 49 percent of those who voted rejected the deal in the largest “no” vote since 1982, when concessions at General Motors were narrowly approved by a 52 to 48 percent margin.

Opposition to the deal was organized on the Internet and spearheaded by rank-and-file workers at Ford factories targeted for closure, including the St. Paul, Minnesota assembly plant. Workers were especially angered by the attack on retired workers, whom the UAW bureaucracy would not allow to vote.

Under the Ford agreement, retired auto workers would be required to pay monthly health care premiums for the first time, as well as annual deductibles and co-payments for medical services, including a $50 emergency room fee. The concessions will reportedly cost a maximum of $370 a year for individuals and $752 for families, but additional costs are likely.

Hourly workers will see drug co-payments rise and will be compelled to contribute 99 cents out of a wage increase due in September as well as a portion of their cost-of-living allowances—or about $2,000 a year—to a trust for future health care expenses.

The pact, which covers 367,000 active and retired hourly workers and their dependents, is expected to save Ford $850 million annually and reduce its long-term health care liability by $5 billion. It will remain in effect until 2007, when the current contract expires. The UAW has already indicated its willingness to grant even greater concessions in the next round of negotiations with the US auto makers.

The Ford vote follows a 39 percent “no” vote last November on a similar package pushed by the UAW for General Motors workers, and growing opposition by Delphi workers to massive wage and job-cutting demands by the auto parts company, which was spun off from GM in 1999. Industry analysts are concerned that a similar deal now being negotiated by the UAW and DaimlerChrysler may be rejected, particularly since the company is profitable and has recently lavished its executives with multimillion-dollar bonuses.

Several large locals overwhelmingly rejected the package, including Kansas City, Missouri; Norfolk, Virginia; St. Paul; Chicago; Wixom, Michigan; and Louisville, Kentucky. Workers voted down the pact at these locals by margins of 60 to 79 percent.