DETROIT -- Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and the UAW reached a tentative agreement on a four-year labor contract covering wages, benefits and job security for 47,200 workers, in addition to $4.5 billion (all figures in USD) in new factory and product investments, the union said Saturday.
The UAW did not immediately provide details of the deal but it's expected to follow the framework set by contracts the union has ratified with General Motors and Ford Motor Co. Those deals include signing bonuses of at least $9,000, wage increases, no change to health care costs and a path for temporary employees to attain full-time status.
A council made up of officers from UAW locals that represent Chrysler workers around the country must approve the agreement before it's presented to members for ratification, a spokesman said. The union said the council will review the pact on Wednesday Dec. 4.
If cleared by the council, FCA workers would hold ratification votes starting Friday Dec. 6, the union said.
“Out of respect for our members, we will refrain from commenting any further or releasing full details of the agreement until the UAW-FCA Council leaders meet and review the details,” Cindy Estrada, head of the union's FCA bargaining unit, said in a statement.
Under the proposed deal, the UAW secured a signing a bonus of $9,000 with FCA, according to several media reports. FCA, which is adding factory capacity in the U.S. to expand the Jeep lineup, has also agreed not to close any plants and slot new product in an Illinois assembly plant, Bloomberg reported.
Estrada said negotiators secured an additional $4.5 billion of investments during the talks, in addition to previous plans for a $4.5 billion investment to open a new assembly plant in Detroit and revamp several other facilities in Southeast Michigan. The $9 billion in investments will add 7,900 jobs during the contract period, the union said.
The company said it would provide details of the pact at a later date.
“FCA has been a great American success story thanks to the hard work of our members,” Rory Gamble, the union’s acting president, said in the union's statement. “We have achieved substantial gains and job security provisions for the fastest growing auto company in the United States.”
Long wait
FCA workers waited during a 40-day UAW strike at GM and then it took three weeks for the union to get a deal with Ford ratified before FCA talks went back on the front burner.
Several major developments emerged during the FCA negotiations: In late October, the company announced it planned to merge with France's PSA Group, a move that would create the world's fourth-largest automaker. That news has been met with skepticism from some workers, and it came just four months after FCA backed out of a potential merger with Renault, another French automaker.
Last week, GM filed a racketeering lawsuit claiming that FCA corrupted labor contracts signed with the union in 2011 and 2015. UAW President Gary Jones also resigned.
