Chrysler Gives Stock Options to Managers : Compensation: The No. 3 auto maker is trying to prevent a repeat of recent defections.

Chrysler Corp., which has lost a number of key executives in recent months, has given some top managers stock options to keep their compensation packages competitive.

The No. 3 auto maker said it granted the options last week to about 1,800 executives.

“People were moving on because their package was noncompetitive,” spokesman Lee Sechler said Monday.

Since May 1, Gerald Greenwald has quit as Chrysler’s vice chairman and Michael Hammes as its vice president for international operations. Vice President and Treasurer Frederick Zuckerman is expected to leave this summer and Chrysler Motors Chairman Bennett Bidwell expected to take early retirement at the end of the year.

Ironically, Chrysler is in the middle of a $1.5-billion cost-cutting program that has resulted in 2,500 salaried employees leaving or retiring early.

Company officials declined to reveal the number of options granted or their price. Chrysler stock closed Monday at $15.50, down 25 cents in New York Stock Exchange trading.

The United Auto Workers union criticized the options.

“This violates the spirit of camaraderie and the sharing effort that they’ve been talking about,” said Aaron Taylor, president of UAW Local 7, which represents laid-off workers at the company’s closed Jefferson Avenue assembly plant.

“When the company is in a downward-spiraling mode, they’re still rewarding executives,” he said. “It leaves a bad taste in the workers’ mouths.”