Ford Motor Company had one of its best years ever, and under its contract with the UAW, the company will give a portion of its annual North American profit to the nearly 47,000 hourly workers who help build the profitable cars and trucks.
Last year, Ford's profit in North America was $8.8 billion, so each of those workers will receive an $8,800 bonus check. The payout breaks last year's bonus of $8,300.
More from Alisa Pridle of the Detroit Free Press:
The payout – which has largely replaced raises for auto workers in the past decade – will pump more than $400 million into the economy in the form of spending and taxes. Almost half will stay here in Michigan where Ford has about 21,000 employees. Profit sharing was introduced in 1983, but there were years when the automakers did not earn enough to trigger payouts.
General Motors and Chrysler will announce the amount of their bonus checks in the coming week. Ford, GM, and Chrysler have similar labor contracts with the UAW.