U.S. automaker Chrysler showed signs of progress with its unionized workers in its battle to stay alive on Sunday with just days left to complete deals to slash labour and debt costs or face bankruptcy.

No. 1 U.S. automaker General Motors is also restructuring in an effort to secure the government funding it needs to stay in business, and was expected to announce a fresh round of cost cutting on Monday.

Chrysler – 80 percent controlled by private-equity firm Cerberus Capital Management CBS.UL – has been given until April 30 by the Obama administration to agree on cost-cutting deals with its creditors and the unions, plus cement an alliance with Italian automaker Fiat SpA.

Failure to meet those goals could shut off access to U.S. government aid for Chrysler, leaving it facing potential liquidation.

In a first significant step towards meeting those goals, the Canadian Auto Workers union on Sunday ratified a new collective agreement with the automaker that will save Chrysler about C$240 million (135.1 million pounds) annually.

The union said its members voted 87 percent in favour of the new agreement. Chrysler has 8,000 unionized workers in Canada.