(Reuters) -Union workers at Volvo Group-owned Mack Trucks went on strike on Monday morning after overwhelmingly rejecting a proposed five-year contract deal, the United Auto Workers said, making it the latest tentative labor agreement to be voted down.
About 73% of workers – covering 4,000 workers in Pennsylvania, Florida and Maryland – voted against the deal that included a 19% pay raise, said the UAW, which is in the midst of contract talks with Detroit’s Big Three automakers from whom it is also seeking wage hikes.
Unions have used labor actions to keep employers off-balance this year in the auto, shipping and healthcare industries as they negotiate new contracts. Polls have shown that most Americans broadly support the unions’ demands.
In the last 12 months, freight rail workers and employees at shipping company FedEx have rejected tentative agreements between union management and companies before eventually reaching deals.
The UAW has been on a targeted strike against facilities of the Detroit Three automakers since Sept. 15. About 25,000 of the 146,000 UAW employees at General Motors, Ford Motor and Chrysler parent Stellantis are on strike. Canadian workers at GM also are facing a contract talk deadline at midnight on Monday that could lead to another strike.
The proposed Mack deal had included a 19% pay hike, a $3,500 ratification bonus, improved retirement benefits, additional vacation for some employees and a reduction in the time needed to get to top pay.
In online forums, some Mack workers complained that the raise was not large enough to address the impact of inflation.
“I’m inspired to see UAW members at Mack holding out for a better deal, and ready to stand up and walk off the job to win it,” UAW President Shawn Fain said late on Sunday.
After Mack workers voted down the deal, the UAW sent a strike notice to the company saying “many topics” remain at issue, including wage increases, cost-of-living allowance, job security and wage progression.
Mack President Stephen Roy said the company was “surprised and disappointed” that the UAW has chosen to strike and called the move unnecessary.
“We clearly demonstrated our commitment to good-faith bargaining by arriving at a tentative agreement that was endorsed by both the International UAW and the UAW Mack Truck Council,” Roy said.
Mack, which was bought by Volvo in 2000, is one of North America’s largest makers of medium-duty and heavy-duty trucks.
Roy said Mack is part of “the only heavy-truck manufacturing group that assembles all of its trucks and engines” in the United States and competes against products built in “lower-cost” countries
The UAW said it would contact Mack to set dates to resume bargaining. Mack said it was committed to the collective bargaining process and remained confident it would be able to reach an agreement.
“UAW members and workers across the economy are mobilizing to demand their fair share,” the UAW said in a letter to Mack. “The union remains committed to exploring all options for reaching an agreement, but clearly we are not there yet.”
Fain said on Friday the union would not expand the Detroit Three strikes, citing progress in talks, including that Ford had upped its proposed wage hike to 23% through early 2028.
Deutsche Bank on Monday estimated GM has lost 34,176 vehicles of production during the strike, Ford 21,296 vehicles and Stellantis 18,893 vehicles, reducing total Detroit Three earnings by $946 million to date.
Anderson Economic Group estimates a total economic loss of $5.5 billion through the third full week of the strike, including in lost wages, $2.68 billion in automaker losses, $1.6 billion for suppliers and $1.26 billion in dealer and customer losses.
Last week, healthcare workers at Kaiser Permanente walked out for three days as negotiations drag on with one of the largest U.S. nonprofit hospital network and managed-care organizations.
(Reporting by David Shepardson in WashingtonAdditional reporting by Abhijith Ganapavaram in BengaluruEditing by Arun Koyyur and Matthew Lewis)
Comments