Feb 02, 2012

Chrysler will rewards workers with bonus checks

Updated 3h 21m ago

By Brent Snavely, USA TODAY and the Detroit Free Press

Fiat and Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne sent an e-mail to workers today saying hourly and salaried workers will receive a performance award. The e-mail didn't say how much workers will receive.

For salaried employees, that award will be based on a performance plan. For hourly workers it will be based on profit sharing formula ratified by UAW members last fall, according to a person familiar with Chrysler's UAW contract.

The profit-sharing formula for Chrysler workers is based on the company's modified operating profit in North America.

For 2011, Chrysler reported an operating profit of $1.97 billion. About 85% of Chrysler's profits come from North America, according to a summary of Chrysler's 2011 labor contract with the UAW.

According to profit-sharing formula distributed by the UAW last fall, that would mean that Chrysler's 26,000 hourly workers would receive a pretax profit-sharing check of more than $1,500.

"This is a reward that you have earned," Marchionne told employees in an e-mail today. "The more difficult the task, the more satisfying it is to overcome all obstacles. … Your efforts rewrote the history that so many naysayers had forecast."

Chrysler spokeswoman Shawn Morgan declined to comment on the amount of the awards for hourly or salaried workers.

The last time Chrysler workers received a profit sharing check was in 2005 when workers received a profit sharing check of about $650.

Chrysler will rewards workers with bonus checks