Now that the United Autoworker's Union (UAW) is finished with General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) in terms of labor talks, next up to bat will be Chrysler LLC. The company is being acquired by private equity firm Cerberus Capital, but that's not stopping it from making vehicles and trying to dent into the domestic market share being rapidly enjoyed by Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM).

This past Sunday, the two parties began negotiating terms of a new labor agreement after nearly three weeks of stalling due to UAW's extension of Chrysler's existing contract so that the GM deal could be put to rest, which it was. UAW President Ron Gettelfinger now has his sights set on Chrysler and hopes that new ground can be broken with the Detroit automaker now that it has a new owner in a private investment firm (new blood, heh) along with the problem of slowing and stagnating sales -- a problem Chrysler has in common with GM and Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F).

The broken-record syndrome currently facing all three domestic automakers is causing production plant idling and increased incentives to move out overloaded inventory just at a time when competitors like Toyota and Honda Motor Co. (NYSE: HMC) are increasing market share and are putting out highly competitive passenger vehicle models. Will Cerberus break new ground with its UAW labor talks that are significantly different from former parent Daimler (which still owns a 20% stake)? I'm thinking yes, or the company would not have bought the Chrysler brand for $7.4 billion in the first place.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• According to the Wall Street Journal (subscription required), Viacom (NYSE: VIA) may announce a licensing deal with new Internet service Joost.
• Also in this morning's Journal, Airbus owner EADS surprised investors and employees yesterday by postponing a long-awaited announcement of Airbus's big makeover plan, called Power8.
• And in more airline news in the Journal, JetBlue (NASDAQ: JBLU) is planning to overhaul its procedures after a storm caused the company to cancel a thousand flights and strand thousands of travelers.
• According to the Financial Times (subscription required), rumors have spread that Anheuser-Busch (NYSE: BUD) and InBev are in serious talks.

OTHER PAPERS:

• The Sunday Edition of the U.K. Times reported that JP Morgan (NYSE: JPM) will formally kick off a GBP 7B auction of DaimlerChrysler's (NYSE: DCX) Chrysler unit as early as this week.
• According to French paper La Tribune, STMicroelectronics (NYSE: STM) will supply multimedia microprocessors to Nokia (NOK) for its mobile telephones.