NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Chrysler Group and the United Auto Workers union have reached a tentative deal on a new labor contract that the union says will create 2,100 new jobs.
The union said Chrysler promised to invest $4.5 billion to produce new models and upgraded vehicles and components by the conclusion of the deal in 2015, resulting in the new positions at the smallest U.S. automaker.
The UAW has already reached deals with General Motors (GM, Fortune 500) and Ford Motor (F, Fortune 500) which also included investment promises that the union said should create or retain about 12,000 jobs that otherwise would have been moved to plants in Mexico or overseas. In addition, Ford had previously announced plans to add 7,000 additional jobs.
"This tentative agreement builds on the momentum of job creation and our efforts to rebuild America ... to communities left in turmoil in the wake of the country's economic collapse," said UAW President Bob King.
This is the first labor deal for Chrysler since the company received a federal bailout, along with General Motors, as part of their bankruptcy reorganization in 2009. Talks between Chrysler and the union proved more difficult than at the other two automakers as Sergio Marchionne, CEO of both Chrysler and Italian automaker Fiat, argued that his company could not afford to match the deals at its bigger U.S. rivals.
Neither the union nor the company gave other details about the tentative agreement that covers 26,000 UAW members at Chrysler. The deal still needs to be ratified by rank-and-file workers before it can take effect.
GM's labor deal has already been ratified by membership, but the tentative deal at Ford has run into some trouble in the early results release by the union.
According to the Facebook page for the union's negotiating team at Ford, so far only 50.1% of the production workers voted in favor of the deal, while only 45.2% of skilled trades workers approve of the deal. But those locals that have voted so far represent just over 7% of the UAW members at Ford. 
