Profit-sharing checks will soon be going out to hundreds of thousands of UAW-represented hourly workers for the Detroit 3 automakers.
This year, Stellantis workers will get an average of $14,760, General Motors workers will get an average of $12,750 and Ford workers will get an average of $9,176. The Stellantis and GM payouts are record highs.
The exact amount for each individual will be based on the number of hours they worked last year.
The checks, which amount to a yearly bonus tied to the companies’ financial performance, are the result of collective bargaining between the automakers and UAW. Profit sharing has been around in some form since the 1980s, although the current formula differs by company.
GM and Ford pay workers $1 for every $1 million (or $1,000 for every $1 billion) in pretax North American profits, a calculation established during 2011 contract negotiations.
Workers at Stellantis, meanwhile, receive $900 for every 1 percent in North America profit margin generated by the company, a rule set in 2019. Before that, workers received $800 for every 1 percent of North America profit margin, which was simplified in 2015 from a more convoluted formula.
The 2019 contracts also removed a $12,000 profit-sharing cap at both GM and Stellantis, paving the way for this year’s record amounts. A similar cap was removed at Ford in the 2015 talks.
