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Fiat Chrysler Nears UAW Deal With $9,000 Bonuses

Fiat Chrysler and the UAW are close to reaching a deal that includes $9,000 signing bonuses.

Fiat Chrysler Nears UAW Deal With $9,000 Bonuses
Logos for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV companies including Alfa Romeo, Fiat and Jeep, sit on the automaker’s exhibition stand on day two of the 89th Geneva International Motor Show in Geneva, Switzerland. (Photographer: Chris J. Ratcliffe/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) -- Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV and the United Auto Workers are finalizing a tentative agreement on a new labor contract that could be announced as soon as Saturday, according to people familiar with the matter.

The carmaker and union are close to reaching a deal that includes $9,000 signing bonuses, matching what Ford Motor Co. agreed to pay senior workers, said the people, who asked not to be identified because discussions are still ongoing. The union secured $11,000 ratification bonuses from General Motors Co. following a 40-day strike that ended last month.

Fiat Chrysler has agreed not to close assembly plants during the life of the contract and to invest in its factory in Belvidere, Illinois, that makes Jeep Cherokee sport utility vehicles and employs almost 3,700 hourly workers. The fate of the facility had been a subject of speculation because the company eliminated a third shift there earlier this year, dismissing more than 1,300 workers.

The UAW was unable to preserve every plant in its deals with GM and Ford. While the union won future products for a factory on the border between Detroit and the town of Hamtramck, where it will build a new line of electric trucks and SUVs, it was unable to save a compact car plant in Ohio or two transmission facilities in Michigan and Maryland. Ford’s deal allowed the company to shutter an engine plant in Romeo, near Detroit.

Local union leaders are scheduled to meet in Detroit next week to decide whether to send the proposed contract on to the automaker’s 47,000 unionized workers for ratification.

UAW leadership will have trust issues to overcome in the voting process. Federal prosecutors have arrested and charged current and former union and company officials for corruption that has tainted the perception of past labor pacts. GM hit Fiat Chrysler with a stunning racketeering lawsuit earlier this month, alleging the Italian-American automaker inflicted billions of dollars in damages by bribing union officers for competitive advantages.

To contact the reporter on this story: Gabrielle Coppola in New York at gcoppola@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Craig Trudell at ctrudell1@bloomberg.net, Cécile Daurat

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