Autoworkers OK new deal with Fiat Chrysler

Late on Wednesday, it appeared that a provisional four-year agreement between the UAW (United Auto Workers) and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV is heading towards ratification, as greater than half of the votes supported the contract.

The contract was approved by 77% of UAW workers and provides for across-the-board pay raises for both hourly and salaried workers – the first raise for long-time workers in nine years – and an upfront one-time bonus of up to $4,000.

“The more money you make in one quarter, the more workers may expect”, Art Wheaton, a director at the Worker Institute at Cornell University, told Automotive News.

A worker at the GM Arlington plant installs an engine in an SUV.

UAW workers in Toledo and elsewhere shot down the original deal, raising prospects for a strike until the new agreement was reached last week.

UAW officials intend to use the Fiat Chrysler agreement as a template for talks at Ford and GM, although Mr. Williams has said deals struck at the two more-profitable companies will reflect their stronger financial standings. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. (FCAU) is trading at $15.22 at a volume of 1,784,113 shares.

The end of the line for the V-10 sports vehicle was buried in the contract proposal for the next four years between Fiat Chrysler and the UAW. A previous deal was soundly rejected largely because it didn’t eliminate a much-hated two-tiered pay system.

Asar Amen-Ra, a 20-year employee at Mopar, Chrysler’s parts distribution unit, in Center Line, Michigan, said he voted no again the second time.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the move came as GM is at one of the most prosperous points in its 107-year history.

The early results are in line with momentum that has been building in favor of a contract that will deliver signing bonuses and raises to all workers, an improved profit sharing formula and what workers view as an improved attendance policy.

GM recently announced its third-quarter pre-tax profit of $8.3 billion in North America, while Ford will release its earnings in the next week.

It calls for a big pay hike for so-called tier-two workers who have been hired by Fiat Chrysler since 2007.