After posting a record pre-tax profit of $8.8 billion in North America for 2013, the strongest in more than a decade, Ford announced plans to share some of the rewards with its U.S. employees.

The Blue Oval said it would pay an average of $8,800 (approximately €6,450 at today’s exchange rates) to about 47,000 eligible U.S. hourly workers on March 13, 2014. That’s $500 more than last year’s record payment of $8,300.

Ford noted that individual profit sharing payments might be higher or lower based on employee compensated hours.

The bonus payments are part a deal signed between the United Auto Workers (UAW) union and Ford in 2011, under which, employees forgo any substantial annual wage increases for lump-sum payments and profit sharing.

General Motors and Chrysler LLC, which agreed to similar labor contracts after their bankruptcy procedures, are also expected to announce profit-sharing checks for their hourly employees in the coming days and weeks.

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