Ford Motor Co., General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group LLC officially ended years of uncontrolled retiree healthcare costs by moving those expenses to three funds that will be supervised by the United Auto Workers union, the Wall Street Journal reports. The trusts stem from an agreement reached between the auto makers and the UAW in 2007 to cut more than $80 billion in healthcare costs. The car companies agreed to create the trusts and make contributions to remove the expenses from their balance sheets. The three auto makers confirmed that the transfer of liabilities to create the UAW's Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association were completed within the past few days, reports the Journal.
