New Zealand's Scott Dixon, trying to secure the Indy-car season points crown, captured pole position for Sunday's Detroit Indy-car Grand Prix in Saturday time trials.

Dixon, who finished a disappointing 12th last week at Sonoma, leads Brazil's Helio Castroneves by 43 points with two races remaining. Castroneves, the only rival who can deny Dixon the title, will start beside him on the front row.

Dixon completed the fast lap around the 2.906-mile street course at Belle Isle Park in 1:12.282 at 103.090 mph for his 15th career Indy-car pole and seventh pole position of the season with Castroneves next at 1:12.765.

"Man what a session. We had a fantastic car and I'm happy we go the pole," Dixon said. "All we're worried about now is getting one more point than Helio. So far so good. But we have a long way to go."

Castroneves, who won at Sonoma to trim Dixon's lead from 78 points to 43, was followed in order by Spain's Oriol Servia, Britain's Justin Wilson, Australian Ryan Briscoe and American Graham Rahal.

Defending Detroit champion Tony Kanaan of Brazil will start eighth.

German sporting legends Michael Schumacher and Boris Becker are set to join Dubai's property boom, by putting their names to branded towers in the emirate.

In an interview to be published on Sunday in Arabian Business, Robin Lohmann - managing director of German owned ACI - is quoted as saying that construction of the "Michael Schumacher Business Avenue" and "Boris Becker Tower" will begin within the next three months.

Lohmann tells the magazine: "We are talking about two of the biggest sporting names anywhere in the world, so when it comes to branding a project, it doesn’t get much better."

The magazine cites sources close to the project - being developed by ACI - suggesting the Schumacher project will be a 29 storey commercial and residentail building, while Becker's building will be 19 floors. It states that both projects will be developed in Business Bay. It also reveals that Schumacher, the most succcessful ever driver in F1 history, will visit Dubai in January next year to officially launch the project.

ACI was founded as a family entity in Germany, and now has over US$1 billion worth of projects in Business Bay, Jumeriah Lake Towers and City of Arabia. The company has also been involved in branding the Nikki Lauda Twin Towers in Business Bay.

General Motors Corp. and the United Auto Workers continued to discuss the automaker's proposal to pay the union to take on retiree health expenses, even though GM's latest offer on the issue was rejected by the UAW president, a person who has been briefed on the talks said.

The person, and a union local leader who also was briefed on the talks, said negotiators have wrapped up work on all noneconomic issues and are trying to figure out the health care piece because the rest of the contract, including job security promises, pay and health insurance contributions, is contingent upon it.

Both people requested anonymity because the talks are private. Each said the UAW is still crunching numbers on GM's proposal to offload most of its $51 billion in unfunded retiree health care costs on the union.

GM spokesman Tom Wickham and UAW spokesman Roger Kerson declined to comment on the talks Thursday.

Thursday was the sixth day of bargaining since GM's contract with the UAW was scheduled to expire, but the union has extended the pact hour by hour. Negotiators went home for the night early Friday and were scheduled to meet again later in the morning, Wickham said.

With both sides far apart on economic issues, the talks likely will take several more days to complete, one of the people briefed on the talks said.

Discussions continued even though UAW President Ron Gettelfinger on Tuesday rejected a GM offer to pay into a retiree health care trust called a Voluntary Employees Beneficiary Association, or VEBA, one of the people said.

GM, which has been picked by the union as the lead company and potential strike target in this year's bargaining, badly wants the UAW to agree to the trust. Whatever agreement is reached with GM likely would be used as a pattern for the other two Detroit automakers, Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC.

While the VEBA is studied, negotiations have slowed on other economic issues, both people said. Noneconomic issues include grievance procedures, absenteeism and other items.

The UAW is seeking to trade taking on the trust for pledges from GM that it will build new vehicles in U.S. factories, the people said.

Deutsche Bank analyst Rod Lache said in a note to investors Thursday that the union has agreed to the concept of a VEBA but so far doesn't like the company's terms.

"The UAW knows that GM cannot sign a contract that excludes a VEBA deal at this point, and that they cannot accept the consequences of an uncompetitive cost structure either," Lache wrote. "Without a VEBA deal, GM has threatened to begin a much more aggressive downsizing of its U.S. manufacturing base."

Lache wrote that GM knows it is risking a strike.

"It is our belief that the most likely outcome is that GM and the UAW will reach a compromise and pursue a VEBA solution after a few days of drama," he wrote.

Since the company and union are billions of dollars apart on how much GM would pay into the trust, Gettelfinger wanted to talk about other issues, one of the people said.

Now under discussion is a second offer from GM that doesn't include the trust but has larger cost cuts, including up to a $5 drop in hourly wages, increased health care contributions, fewer guarantees of new work at U.S. factories, reduced vacation time and other items.

GM, as well as Ford and Chrysler, are trying to cut what they say is about a $25 per hour labor cost gap with their Japanese competitors. Industry analysts say the costs must be reduced for the U.S. companies to survive.

Analysts have said GM wants to pay the union about 65 percent of its retiree health care obligation to form the trust. The union has hired an outside consultant to study GM's proposal, the people briefed on the talks said.

The ultimate status symbol, a rapper's car isn't just a means to get around--it's proof of his prosperity.

True enough, the 20 members of Forbes' debut list of Hip-Hop Cash Kings, whose combined 2006 earnings neared $350 million, own some of the rarest, most expensive rides on the planet.

Jay-Z, with earnings of $34 million in 2006, is a noted Mercedes-Benz buff. In his hit 1999 single "Big Pimpin'," he declared, "If I wasn't rappin' baby, I would still be ridin' Mercedes/Chromin', shinin', sippin'…".

True to his word, the president of Def Jam Recordings is often chauffeured around his native New York in his Maybach, which sells for over $300,000. Last year, Jay-Z even featured the Maybach Exelero, a one-off concept car, in his video for "Lost Ones."

Hot Wheels
Though such luxury vehicles are off-limits to most, they are nonetheless an essential component of the merchandising of hip-hop.

"A lot of what they're selling is about aspiration," says Michael Chatman, president of Seven Figures, a Miami-based consulting firm that specializes in multicultural marketing. "If the average consumer sees Jay-Z in a Maybach, they aren't going to run out and buy one, but if they see him riding in a Maybach and wearing Rocawear, they might go out and buy some of those ancillary products."

But Jay-Z's relationship with Mercedes isn't exclusive. Last September, he reportedly bought his pop-superstar girlfriend Beyoncé a 1959 Rolls-Royce convertible, said to be worth $1 million, for her 25th birthday. That's more expensive than the limited-edition Rolls-Royce Phantom, owned by Sean "Diddy" Combs, estimated to cost $370,000. Owned by BMW, Rolls-Royce builds just 800 Phantoms a year. No word on whether Combs splurged for the $4,500 cigar humidor option.

Pharrell Williams is the proud owner of a rare Ferrari Enzo (estimated cost: $652,000), designed using Formula 1 racing technology and capable of topping 60 miles per hour in just over three seconds. That's comparable to how fast Busta Rhymes could rev up his $330,000 Lamborghini Murcielago Roadster. Lamborghini makes only 200 or so a year; 50 Cent owns a Murcielago too. He and his silver supercar made headlines and countless video blogs last year when police pulled him over in New York City for an illegal lane-change.

Producer Scott Storch lays claim to owning what has been dubbed the most powerful and most expensive car on earth. Only 60 Bugatti Veyrons, which sell for about $1.5 million apiece, were manufactured last year.

Is it worth it? After a test drive, one reviewer declared its performance, "Utterly, stunningly, jaw-droppingly brilliant."

It started out in 1907 as the brainchild of two teenagers in a Seattle basement, whose fledgling messenger service made deliveries on foot or on bicycle. As UPS Inc. celebrates its 100-year anniversary later this month, it now is the world's largest shipping carrier — a $47 billion business with a fleet of trucks, an airline and operations in 200 countries.

Increasing competition for delivery of goods has meant the company has had to broaden its global reach and expand its business beyond small package delivery to shipping heavy freight and providing logistics services for companies.

But even as the Internet has made it easier to send, receive or download items electronically instead of paying a service to deliver them, the breaking down of trade barriers has given shippers like UPS overseas opportunities they haven't had in the past.

Edward Jones analyst Dan Ortwerth described UPS as the "oil that makes the gears go" in the global economy.

"Regardless of whether I want a leather jacket sent to me by UPS because I bought it online, or a factory in any country you'd like to name needs a sprocket to make its machine go, UPS is there to deliver," Ortwerth said.

These days, the U.S. small package delivery market has slowed along with the economy. As a result, UPS has been increasingly looking beyond U.S. borders for business, offering faster delivery to worldwide destinations. International growth has helped the company's bottom line.

Last month, UPS reported a 4.1 percent rise in second-quarter earnings on a modest increase in sales. The company's shares, on an adjusted basis, are up more than 14 percent over the last year.

A century from now, Chief Executive Mike Eskew expects that delivering small packages will still be an important part of the Atlanta-based company's business, but he isn't sure it will be the largest part. In 2001, the company expanded its services by acquiring the Mail Boxes Etc. chain. Most of the stores were later renamed The UPS Store.

"We're going to transform as the world changes and our customers tell us to change," Eskew said.

Recognized by its brown trucks and uniforms, UPS' lifeblood is its 427,700 employees, who will play a big role in future growth. UPS, also known as United Parcel Service, said that's because customer service — particularly drivers having contact with customers everyday — will always be the area that keeps customers coming back.

As a result, much focus has been on labor talks between management and the unions that represent the majority of UPS employees.

A year ago, the pilots union approved a new contract with UPS that included hefty pay raises, large signing bonuses and higher health care premiums. The deal, reached after more than three years of talks, ended a lengthy battle that included walkout threats.

Contract negotiations between UPS and the Teamsters union, which represents 238,000 UPS drivers and sorters, are currently ongoing. That contract expires July 31, 2008. Pension and health care benefits are major issues.

Linc Dalimonte, a UPS driver from Grand Rapids, Mich., said he recognizes the importance in a highly competitive industry of controlling costs. Dalimonte, who has been with the company since he finished college 15 years ago, said he believes UPS can do that by continuing to emphasize safety, which would decrease accidents and the costs associated with them.

"The job of any delivery driver, whether it is UPS or FedEx, just to get up in the morning, we're basically industrial athletes," Dalimonte, 37, said. "It's not user friendly on the body."

Dalimonte often sees trucks from Memphis, Tenn.-based FedEx Corp. on his route, but it doesn't faze him.

"Other companies can come in and even make a bid lower than us, but can they compete with the service?" Dalimonte said.

Technology improvements, meanwhile, have led to greater efficiencies.

UPS uses technology to map out the shortest routes for its trucks to reach their destinations. The technology and greater use of alternative fuel trucks have allowed UPS to save on fuel, according to Robert Hall, director of ground fleet engineering at UPS.

In 2006, package flow technology, the software that among other things designs routes with right-hand turns, allowed UPS to save 28.5 million miles of driving off its U.S. fleet.

"We're trying to be proactive," Hall said. "At the same time, we recognize we have to extend the current supply of oil we have."

Eskew, who has been with UPS for 35 years, said keeping costs down and people happy is a challenge.

According to the company, the average UPS driver has been with the company for 16 years. Management turnover runs 5 percent to 7 percent per year. The company says its average driver is paid $75,000 a year, while its average pilot salary is $200,000 a year.

"We want to be able to compensate the employees for the great things they do, but also think about the next generation of UPSers," Eskew said.

The company said it is willing to give pay raises, but it must put any raise in the context of its overall cost structure so it can stay competitive.

There was competition even in 1907, when 18-year-old Claude Ryan and 19-year-old Jim Casey opened the American Messenger Company with a $100 loan from a friend of Casey. Working out of their basement headquarters in Seattle, employees — Casey's brother and a handful of other teenagers — ran errands and carried notes on foot or on bicycle.

In 1913, the company acquired its first delivery car, a Model T Ford, renamed itself Merchants Parcel Delivery and shifted its primary focus from messages to packages. Six years later, the company expanded beyond Seattle and renamed itself United Parcel Service.

The company, which moved into its Atlanta headquarters in 1994, went public in 1999. It rebranded itself as just UPS in 2003.

To mark its centennial anniversary — officially Aug. 28 — UPS has been holding events around the world. Eskew has attended many, and he is marking his own 35th anniversary with the company.

The CEO also will be picking out an anniversary gift from a company catalog; he's thinking about selecting a bicycle, which would be symbolic considering the company's beginnings.

But Eskew isn't making any predictions of when he might move on.

"At some point you think, we all think, it's time to let somebody else do this," said the 58-year-old. "Somebody else might have a different, fresher approach."

As UPS looks forward, Ortwerth, the analyst, said he doesn't believe competition and changing ways of sending goods and services will hurt UPS' growth as long as the company continues to adapt.

"In some ways, the market is expanding itself for them," he said. "Until we become virtual human beings, we still have real bodies that wear real clothes and use real-time items throughout our lives."

You might have heard that your commute is killing you. But it's not the doughnut and jumbo-sized coffee you've been downing every morning that's doing it.

What's really taking a toll on your health is the polluted air you're breathing, lengthy traffic delays and dodging accidents to and from work. Even as the stress mounts, we put up with it, since most of us can't afford to or don't want to live near our offices.

"It's a lifestyle choice," says David Rizzo, author of Survive the Drive! How to Beat Freeway Traffic in Southern California. "We put our health second. To have a big house, we're willing to put up with smog and a big drive. We sacrifice our longevity for short-term gains."

Behind The Numbers

To figure out which region is faring worst, we looked at three issues facing the country's 25 largest metropolitan areas.

1. Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario

2. Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta

3. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana

4. Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown

5. Washington- Arlington- Alexandria

6. Detroit-Warren- Livonia

7. Chicago- Naperville- Joliet

8. Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington

9. San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos

10. St. Louis

First, we examined year-round particle pollution levels based on rankings by the American Lung Association, which used air monitoring data that states submitted to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from 2003-05. To estimate the time people spend in rush hour traffic, we used the Texas Transportation Institute's 2005 Urban Mobility Report, which calculated annual delays per traveler during peak hours in urban areas nationwide.

Finally, to get a sense of how dangerous the roads are, we compiled the number of per-capita fatal car accidents each region had in 2005 using the U.S. Department of Transportation's Fatality Analysis Reporting System.

Topping the list were Riverside, Calif., followed by Atlanta and Los Angeles. Rounding out the top five were Houston and Washington, D.C., which tied.

SoCal's Triple Whammy

Not only do commuters in Southern California inhale the worst year-round particle pollution levels, but Riverside drivers also face the highest rate of fatal auto accidents per capita, and Los Angeles drivers spend the most time sitting in traffic. In 2003, the annual delay per traveler there was 93 hours.

Long commutes, research has shown, can lead to loss of short-term memory, more days of missed work and such ailments as higher blood pressure, muscle tension and an accelerated heart rate.

Part of the problem is that, unlike New York City, where companies such as Citigroup are headquartered, Los Angeles doesn't have a single activity center. Instead it has a couple dozen, says Texas Transportation Institute research engineer Tim Lomax. As a result, most people have to drive long distances to get to their jobs, causing congestion and a higher likelihood of accidents. Companies headquartered here include the Walt Disney Co., and Northrup Grumman.

And because of its location in a basin, pollution in the Los Angeles area caused by diesel exhaust, barges, locomotives and other sources tends to stay put, says Janice Nolen, assistant vice president with National Policy and Advocacy for the American Lung Association.

Pollution Punch

While drivers busy trying to get to work may not notice it, the exposure is hurting them.

Ultra-fine particulate matter has been linked with premature death, cardiovascular disease and respiratory illness, according to the California Air Resources Board. Though it takes Americans an average of 25 minutes to drive to work, according to 2005 U.S. Census Bureau figures, the board estimates that over 50% of a person's daily exposure to ultra-fine particles can occur during a commute.

Likewise, a 2005 study by researchers at the University of Southern California's Keck School of Medicine showed that long-term exposure to ambient particulate matter may contribute to atherosclerosis, the hardening and narrowing of the arteries.

"Particle pollution kills people, whether they're breathing it in over a short period or day in and day out for a year," Nolen says. "It's not like being hit by a car, but it shortens the lives of people by months to years."

Even if you live in a city with low pollution levels, don't kid yourself; that doesn't necessarily mean your commute is healthy. A 2007 report by the Clean Air Task Force that investigated diesel exhaust levels during commutes in New York, Boston, Austin, Texas, and Columbus, Ohio, documented diesel particle levels four to eight times higher inside commuter cars, buses and trains than in those cities' ambient outdoor air.

The only commutes found to be low in diesel exposure were those on electric-powered subways and commuter trains, buses running on alternative fuels or retrofitted with diesel particulate filters, and in cars traveling with little truck traffic.

Top Tips

While you can't exactly control the safety levels of the roads you're driving on, and moving may not be on your agenda, you can do something.

To minimize your exposure to pollution, Conrad Schneider, advocacy director for the Clean Air Task Force, says drivers should try to avoid roads filled with trucks' diesel exhaust. If you can't avoid traveling with trucks, close your windows and set your air to recirculate. Of course, carpooling or taking public transit can cut congestion and travel times. You could also support the Clean Air Task Force and the American Lung Association's campaigns, which urge the EPA to set stricter pollution standards.

"There's no excuse in 2007 to have trucks belch black smoke in our faces when there are solutions to reduce the problem," Schneider says.

Richard Thorne grins as he waves his hand under a toilet paper dispenser in a women's restroom. The machine spits five sheets of tissue into his grasp.

A year in the works, the electronic tissue dispenser is being rolled out to the masses by Kimberly-Clark Professional as it seeks to capture more of the $1 billion away-from-home toilet paper market. The company believes most people will be satisfied with five sheets — and use 20 percent less toilet paper.

"Most people will take the amount given," says Thorne. Waxing philosophical, he adds, "People generally in life will take what you give them."

Kimberly-Clark turned to focus groups and years of internal research to determine just how much is right.

Americans typically use twice as much toilet paper as Europeans — as much as an arm's length each pull, Thorne says. The company decided the best length is about 20 inches — or precisely five standard toilet paper squares, though the machine can also be adjusted to churn out 16 inches or 24 inches, depending on the demand.

Roswell-based Kimberly-Clark Professional, a unit of Dallas-based Kimberly-Clark Corp., hopes dispensers like the one at the office will one day fit in with the automatic toilets, faucets and paper towel machines that have become a norm in many other office and institutional bathrooms.

"The one part of the room where there's not an automatic option is toilet tissue," says Thorne, director of the company's washroom business.

Call it a final frontier — of cheapness — if you wish.

When one of the two motion sensors is activated, the device's battery-powered motor automatically dispenses a predetermined amount of toilet paper.

The machine isn't completely automated. Each also comes with a suite of "security" features in case the machine malfunctions.

There's an emergency feed button, and a manual feed roller lets the users pull the roll around if the motor breaks down or the four D-size batteries run out. There's also an option for a "rescue roll" on one side of the machine just in case the old-fashioned way is preferred.

"This is probably the most personal experience you can have. We didn't want to get any frustrations," Thorne says. "None of us like to touch things they think someone before them has touched."

The devices cost about $30 apiece for the plastic variety, and $55 if cased in stainless steel.

Sean Nichols, one of the lead marketers for the device, says he's banking on the "coolness, the newness of the unit."

He's sending some to late-night comedians and hoping for TV exposure. He also says he hopes the devices will appeal to clean-freaks, such as Tony Shalhoub's obsessive compulsive germophobe character on the USA Network's "Monk."

But Thorne admits the company won't truly achieve a "touchless" bathroom until it develops a toilet that does the dirty work for you.

"And that," he says, "is going to be interesting."

He slides his hand under the toilet paper one more time for emphasis, and another string of toilet paper shoots out.

"The final frontier," he says with a smile.

With "Transformers," Michael Bay has either made a big, dumb summer adventure for the little boy in all of us or the world's most-expensive General Motors commercial.

Actually, it's a great deal of both, but as good as director Bay is at blowing things up and crafting wild visuals of those shape-shifting toys that were all the rage in the 1980s, "Transformers" is far more effective as a car ad than an action epic.

Images of the sleek new Camaro that Chevrolet is introducing for the 2009 model year are pervasive throughout the movie, and the car winds up a more memorable figure than the robot Transformers themselves (though the machine characters do have more personality than any of the humans on screen).

The Hasbro toys inspired an animated TV series and movie 20 years ago, and this version essentially is another cartoon, though it's live-action seamlessly blended with an overload of computer-generated effects.

In case you missed the 1980s, Transformers are giant, sentient robots made up of a gazillion moving parts that shift around to turn the big guys into all sorts of things — vehicles, jet planes, helicopters and such.

In the tale fashioned by writers John Rogers, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman (all three sharing story credit, the latter two taking the screenplay credit), Autobots — the good guys in the Transformers universe — have come to Earth looking for the Allspark, a cube-shaped power source that's kind of the mother of all spark plugs.

But the Autobots' evil enemies, the Decepticons, have shown up, too, looking for the same thing. Their nasty leader, Megatron, wants to use the Allspark to transform Earth's machines into a new race of evil robots and wipe out the organic infection called humanity.

So that we don't end up watching two-hours-plus of dueling between glorified can openers, the filmmakers add a bunch of puny humans to become flies in the axle grease.

Shia LaBeouf leads the flesh-and-blood cast as Sam Witwicky, a teen who wants to hang with cars and girls, not behemoth robots. Sam's dad coughs up cash to help the youth get his first car — a beat-up 1970s Camaro with a mind of its own — sort of the Herbie the Love Bug of muscle cars.

Turns out the vehicle is benevolent Autobot Bumblebee, which later transforms into the 2009 Chevy Camaro you've been hearing so much about. Both Autobots and Decepticons are stalking Sam because of a discovery about the Allspark his great-grandfather made a century earlier while exploring the Arctic.

Sam and his school's No. 1 babe, Mikaela (Megan Fox), wind up at the center of the 'bot battle, whose combatants include the noble Autobot leader Optimus Prime and his foot-soldiers Ironhide, Jazz and Ratchet, and such dastardly Decepticons as Barricade, Bonecrusher and Starscream. World Wrestling Entertainment could learn a thing or two about naming heroes and villains from these metal giants.

The action shifts aimlessly among an ineffectual ensemble of humans, among them Jon Voight as the secretary of defense, who seems to be running the country all on his own; Tyrese Gibson and Josh Duhamel as U.S. soldiers who encounter Decepticons in Qatar and later engage them in a street fight back stateside; John Turturro as a shadowy government operative; and Anthony Anderson and Rachael Taylor as computer experts helping to track the Transformer incursion.

Bernie Mac pops up in a fleeting early role as a car dealer. His good humor is missed later as the rest of the cast lumbers about like lifeless, well, robots.

LaBeouf remains likable though much blander amid the shallow character development here than he was in this spring's thriller "Disturbia." Everyone else — surprisingly, Turturro included — seems to be on automatic pilot.

Bay's certainly not an actor's director — this is the man who made "Pearl Harbor," after all. Yet his previous menace-from-the-sky saga, "Armageddon," at least mixed up a fair amount of humor amid the explosions.

The visuals are the real stars here. One of Hollywood's grandest big kids, Steven Spielberg, is an executive producer on "Transformers," so you know going in the movie's not going to skimp on spectacle.

Though they grow repetitive, the robots' transforming scenes — joints bending, appendages stretching, gears whirling — are too cool to ever become boring. The action sequences are so turgid it's sometimes hard to tell which 'bot is doing what, but with Bay steadily hurling fireworks you won't really pause much to think about that, or about how truly inane the story is.

The Autobots do provide some sparks of camaraderie and frivolity that liven up the deadening moments among the humans.

"We've learned Earth languages through the World Wide Web," Optimus Prime tells Sam.

Not so silly, really, considering the opening credits for the studios and production companies behind "Transformers" include the plug, "In association with Hasbro."

First, comic-book publishers took over Hollywood. Now it's the toy makers. Killer robots from space don't sound so terrifying, next to that.

"Transformers," released by DreamWorks and Paramount, is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi action violence, brief sexual humor and language. Running time: 144 minutes. Two stars out of four.

___

Motion Picture Association of America rating definitions:

G — General audiences. All ages admitted.

PG — Parental guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children.

PG-13 — Special parental guidance strongly suggested for children under 13. Some material may be inappropriate for young children.

R — Restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

NC-17 — No one under 17 admitted.

Claims by the three major domestic automakers that they must cut average wage-and-benefit costs by $30 per hour to compete with Asian rivals are merely pre-negotiation posturing, two top United Auto Workers officials told members Friday.

In an Internet chat with union members, UAW President Ron Gettelfinger and Vice President Cal Rapson said they have heard reports of the $30-per-hour figure, but said they will not negotiate in the press.

The men were responding to a question about how to make sure General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group survive without giving major concessions.

But in answering a question from a GM retiree's spouse about problems with a mail-order pharmacy she is required to use, the leaders said the mail operation has saved millions of dollars in health care costs.

"We realize there have been problems with changing to the mail order prescription plan," Rapson and Gettelfinger wrote. "It is vital that we reduce costs wherever we can to ensure we have health care coverage in the future."

No mention was made during the hourlong chat of a potential agreement with GM and struggling auto parts maker Delphi Corp.

Delphi, GM's former parts-making arm that was spun off as a separate company in 1999, has said it needs a lower wage scale and other changes to compete against suppliers with cheaper labor costs.

Officials of GM, Ford and Chrysler all have said they need labor cost parity with Japanese competitors, mainly Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. Studies have shown the Detroit automakers make more than $2,000 less per vehicle than their competition, with much of that due to labor costs.

Gettelfinger and Rapson wrote that a strike is one of the union's options in upcoming contract talks. Informal talks already are under way, but formally begin on July 23. The UAW national contract with the automakers expires in September.

GM shares fell 31 cents to $35.65 in afternoon trading Friday, while Ford shares rose 15 cents to $9.06 and DaimlerChrysler's U.S. shares lost 62 cents to $90.49 Toyota's U.S. shares dropped $1.83 to $123.16.

Delphi Corp. is selling its automotive catalyst business to Belgian metals firm Umicore for $55.6 million, the auto parts maker said Wednesday.

Catalysts, with a metals-coated ceramic base, go inside a catalytic converter and are used to clean up auto emissions. Delphi previously had decided to sell that unit as part of its restructuring program.

Delphi requested a bankruptcy hearing for Aug. 16 to approve the sale, which would follow a June 26 hearing to set procedures for spinning off the business.

The sale is expected to close in the third quarter. Umicore will acquire manufacturing facilities in Tulsa, Okla.; Florange, France; and Port Elizabeth, South Africa, as part of the deal. It also will hire “certain employees” of the catalyst business from Delphi.

Umicore has 17,000 employees worldwide.