Chrysler and the United Auto Workers have agreed to terms for a four-year contract deal.
Chrysler is the last of Detroit’s three carmakers to reach a tentative agreement with the UAW.
The agreement follows some tense negotiationsbetween the UAW and Chrysler, which is majority-owned by the Italian automaker Fiat.
Chrysler is smaller and more indebted than its fellow U.S. automakers, but the UAW sought a contract with similar terms to those it got from GM and Ford.
Like in the GM and Ford contracts, entry-level Chrysler workers will get a wage hike under this deal. Workers also stand to get more in bonus pay and profit-sharing.
“The overall framework, the overall labor cost agreement [compared to GM and Chrysler] is very, very comparable,” said UAW President Bob King. “We tweaked them, shifted them a little bit in each case, because of the specific needs of the individual companies.”
Also like the GM and Ford contracts, this agreement focuses more on creating and retaining jobs for U.S. workers than on boosting worker pay. Chrysler says it will invest $4.5 billion in U.S. production, and create 2100 U.S. jobs.
King thinks most of his members understand the focus on future investment.
“Our members overwhelmingly supported the goal of bringing more jobs into our plants,” King says. “And our members understand overall that they can’t be secure unless there’s product and investment long-term in their facility.”
UAW officials hope to get Chrysler workers to ratify the deal within the next two weeks.
GM UAW workers ratified their contract by a roughly 2-to-1 margin. Ford workers are still voting.
