Auto Work Force Gets Dividend From Industry’s Rebound

Auto Work Force Gets Dividend From Industry’s Rebound

By BILL VLASIC and NICK BUNKLEY

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The two big Detroit carmakers will announce profit-sharing checks this month for their hourly workers, perhaps the largest in a decade, company officials and industry analysts say.

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The union’s president, Bob King, responded that workers would have an open mind as long as they got a piece of the profits in the new contracts. The current four-year contracts expire in the fall.

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But both G.M. and Ford enjoyed strong years in 2010 and are expected to report big profits this month. Industry analysts estimate that Ford’s 42,000 union workers will get profit-sharing checks of at least $5,000, based on the company’s performance last year in the North American market. That would be the biggest payout since the $8,000 checks that Ford handed out in 2000.

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But Mr. King has been very vocal about how the union should get back some of the economic benefits it gave up to bolster the Big Three. He estimates that each union member has sacrificed $7,000 to $30,000 in annual compensation, either in pay or benefits, since 2005.

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