Canadian Chrysler Workers Approve 3-Year Contract

TORONTO — Canadian workers for the Chrysler unit of DaimlerChrysler ratified a three-year contract that increases pay and promises a new plant in the Windsor, Canada, region.

In a vote over the weekend, 4,904 workers voted in favor of the contract, with 568 opposing it, said Canadian Auto Workers union spokeswoman Jane Armstrong. Of production and trades workers, 90% voted in favor. About 12,500 workers were eligible to vote on the pact, Armstrong said.

Chrysler, North America’s third-biggest automaker, agreed to pay increases of 3% in each of the first two years and 2% in the third year, in addition to a $635 bonus for each employee and cost-of-living increases that track inflation. The automaker agreed to build a production facility worth at least $375 million in the Windsor area by 2005 to replace a van assembly plant that will close next year.

Chrysler’s agreement Tuesday to build the plant averted a strike by the workers. The deal was announced 25 minutes before the workers were due to walk off the job.

Chrysler said it would need government aid to build the plant.

Shares of Stuttgart, Germany-based DaimlerChrysler rose 23 cents to $36.65 Friday on the New York Stock Exchange.