Dive Brief:
- The United Auto Workers union went on strike Monday at Mack Trucks after an interim deal failed to gain majority support among union members, the union said on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
- Nearly three-quarters of UAW members across multiple sites rejected the tentative agreement Sunday, expressing concerns over wages, job security, schedules, benefits and other issues. The walkout involved nearly 4,000 workers at the company.
- “UAW members and workers across the country are mobilizing to demand their fair share,” the union’s president, Shawn Fain, said in a letter to Volvo Trucks North America, Mack’s parent company.
Dive Insight:
The OEM and union reached a tentative deal Oct. 1 for a five-year contract before an earlier labor deal expired that night.
The labor negotiations involve workers in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Florida, and company and unions announcements in early October seemed to suggest that the threat of a strike was over.
The tentative agreement would have provided a 10% general wage increase in one year for workers, compounded 20% over five years and a guarantee of no increases in health insurance premiums for the contract term, Mack said.
But the walkouts Monday by union workers in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Florida signal they are holding out for a better deal, Fain said.
Mack President Stephen Roy said in a statement Sunday the OEM is “surprised and disappointed that the UAW has chosen to strike, which we feel is unnecessary.”
A strike in 2019 lasted for two weeks.
