WRAPUP 1-Union leaders urge vote for Ford agreement

* Union leaders urge a vote in support of Ford agreement

* Ford CEO to take 30 pct salary cut in 2009 and 2010

* UAW aims to wrap up Ford voting by March 9

DETROIT, Feb 24 - United Auto Workers union leaders urged members on Tuesday to approve a concessionary deal with Ford Motor Co that may serve as a model for talks with General Motors Corp and Chrysler.

Separately, Ford said Chief Executive Alan Mulally would take a 30 percent salary cut for two years as the centerpiece of a package of white-collar pay cuts that could make a vote for concessions more palatable to hourly workers.

Ford executives had said the automaker would want parity in labor cost reductions the UAW agreed to with GM and Chrysler, which are operating under emergency U.S. government loans. They also promised a shared sacrifice in the cost cutting.

That shared sacrifice includes elimination of performance bonuses for global salaried employees and senior executives in 2009 and Ford's board agreed to give up all cash compensation this year, Mulally and Executive Chairman Bill Ford said in a memo to employees obtained by Reuters.

The 30 percent reduction in salary for 2009 and 2010 also applies to Bill Ford, though he has not taken any compensation since 2005. The board opted to resume his compensation in 2008, but Bill Ford elected to defer it until the automaker's global automotive operations return to profitability.

Ford shares were trading at $2.26 in extended trade after closing at $2.00 Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange.

Ford has said the cost-saving changes negotiated midway through a four-year contract with the UAW set to run until 2011 were needed to allow it to restructure on its own without resorting to emergency loans from the U.S. government.

"Importantly, we remain firm in our resolve to operate without needing to access a bridge loan from the U.S. government ...," Mulally and Bill Ford said in the memo.

The UAW agreement, which including concessions intended to reduce operating costs and a change in the way Ford funds a union-aligned healthcare trust, are aimed at making Ford competitive with the U.S. operations of foreign carmakers.

UAW leaders who represent Ford workers met on Tuesday and voted unanimously to recommend approval of the agreement. The union hopes to complete the voting by March 9.

GM and Chrysler, about 80 percent owned by Cerberus Capital Management, have been kept afloat by a $17.4 billion federal bailout. Both have reached tentative agreements on new operating concessions with the UAW.

But GM and Chrysler remain in talks with the union about how to change funding terms for retiree healthcare.

Under the proposed change to the Ford contract, which is subject to the member ratification vote and court approval, the automaker has the option of settling up to half of the payments due to the healthcare trust in Ford stock.

Previously, Ford had been obligated to make a $13.2 billion cash contribution to the fund, known as a Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association, or VEBA.

Ford's deal with the UAW on the VEBA would save it almost $7 billion in cash and could provide the model for concessions at GM and Chrysler, analysts have said.

Ford and the UAW have not yet detailed the other contract changes that will be put to a vote of hourly workers.

But one of those changes will phase out a program of near-total job security for UAW workers even after their positions have been eliminated, both sides have said.

U.S. automakers and the UAW have also been talking about contract changes that would make it easier for the companies to hire in new, lower-cost workers and shut down excess plants, people familiar with the talks have said.

Ford had just under 53,000 hourly workers in North America at the end of December, down from over 100,000 at the end of 2005, according to company data.

The automaker had cut its North American salaried ranks to 22,400 from 35,600 over the same period and eliminated another 1,300 jobs at the start of this year. (Reporting by David Bailey; editing by Richard Chang)