Fiat Chrysler, auto union reach tentative deal on new contract

DETROIT — The United Auto Workers and Fiat Chrysler reached a tentative agreement Saturday on a new four-year contract, which includes $9 billion in investments but still needs final approval from workers.

Both sides declined to offer details on the deal, but it includes a $9,000 bonus for workers when the agreement is ratified, a promise not to close any factories where vehicles are assembled for the next four years, and a commitment to keep making vehicles at a plant in Belvidere, Illinois, according to a person briefed on the matter. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks are confidential.

The UAW-FCA national council will meet Wednesday to go over the details of the contract. If adopted, it would go to Fiat Chrysler Automobiles’ 47,000 union workers, and a vote by hourly and salary workers could begin Friday.

Fiat Chrysler is the last company to settle on a new contract with the union. GM settled Oct. 31 after a bitter 40-day strike that paralyzed the company’s U.S. factories, but Ford reached a deal quickly and settled in mid-November.

Talks focused on Fiat Chrysler for almost two weeks, and both sides negotiated into the early morning hours last week before taking a break for the Thanksgiving holiday.

The Illinois factory west of Chicago makes the Jeep Cherokee small SUV and employs about 3,700 union workers on two shifts.

Of the $9 billion in total investments included in the deal, half were newly announced Saturday, and the other $4.5 billion are investments announced earlier this year.