US Auto Maker Chrysler Reaches Labor Deal

VOA Breaking News
October 12, 2011 at 12:45 pm

U.S. automaker Chrysler has reached a labor agreement with its unionized workers, the last of the three big American car manufacturers to complete negotiations on new work and salary terms.

Chrysler is the third largest of the U.S. automakers, behind General Motors and Ford, and is the least profitable of the three. All three automakers have recently reached new four-year pacts with the workers’ union, the United Auto Workers.

The Chrysler deal, which still must be approved by the company’s 26,000 unionized workers, is its first since its 2009 bankruptcy and the U.S. government bailout it received to keep it operating.

The president of the workers’ union, Bob King, said the Chrysler agreement will create 2,100 new jobs and commit the company to a $4.5 billion investment in new and upgraded cars by 2015. Salary terms for the workers were not immediately disclosed, although labor analysts say they believe the Chrysler terms will be less generous than for workers at General Motors and Ford.

The GM deal, covering more than 48,000 workers, calls for them to receive $5,000 contract signing bonuses. Under its labor agreement, Ford is set to pay 41,000 workers $6,000 bonuses. GM workers have ratified their contract, but Ford’s workers are still voting.