FCA said it would pay around 40,000 UAW union member workers an average of US$5,500 in profit sharing “as a result of the company’s strong 2017 financial performance”. The payment is scheduled for 16 February.
The automaker noted its US hourly employees had received an average “more than $23,000” in profit sharing since 2009.
The profit sharing deal with workers was agreed in the 2015 FCA US-UAW collective bargaining agreement – 2017 payment is based on the adjusted EBIT margin performance of the North American region reported in the FCA NV financial results and on individual paid hours.
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Trump tax reform bonus
In addition to profit sharing, FCA’s UAW unionised workers will receive a special $2,000 bonus payment in the second quarter. As announced on 11 January, FCA will make the payment to 60,000 hourly and salaried employees, excluding senior managers, of FCA automotive and component operations in the US because of US tax reform legislation.
Growing US manufacturing
FCA added it had spent $10bn and added 25,000 new jobs in its US manufacturing operations since 2009.
Last year, it moved Jeep Cherokee and Wrangler production to new locations, completing the first two parts of an industrialisation plan designed to realign US manufacturing capacity to expand the Jeep and Ram [truck] brands.
Cherokee production moved from the north plant of the Toledo Assembly Complex in Ohio to the Belvidere, Illinois, plant in June, following a $350m spend. Over 300 new jobs were added to support Cherokee production which began in June.
With the Cherokee move, Toledo North plant received a $700m overhaul to produce the redesigned Wrangler. Production began in December with the addition of 700 jobs.
Assembly of the redesigned Ram 1500 will begin at Sterling Heights Assembly Plant in the first quarter of 2018 after moving from the nearby Warren Truck plant. Around $1.5bn was spent to convert the suburban Detroit facility from unibody to body on frame production. The plant will add 700 new jobs.
FCA is also spending $2bn and adding 4,500 new jobs at Warren Truck and Toledo South. Warren Truck will be modernised to produce the Jeep Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer alongside the Ram Heavy Duty, which will be moved from a factory in Saltillo, Mexico. Toledo South will be retooled to build the new Jeep truck. All of this is expected to be complete by 2020.
