The United Auto Workers union on Friday reached an 11-hour agreement with Daimler Trucks in North Carolina that gives workers a 25% raise, avoiding a wage increase. The strike was supposed to begin on Saturday.
The union had said it was prepared to leave Daimler if it could not agree to a new contract covering 7,300 employees. The previous contract expired on Friday. The German company has four factories in North Carolina, where it manufactures Freightliner and Western Star trucks and Thomas Built buses. The union also represents workers at parts distribution centers in Atlanta and Memphis.
The agreement, which included profit sharing, automatic cost-of-living increases and equal pay for workers at the North Carolina factory, was a victory for the UAW as it seeks to expand its influence in Southern states where unions have long been weak. Ta.
UAW CEO Sean Fein announced late Friday that the agreement would give workers at least a 16% pay raise in the first year after they ratify the contract, adding, “As that deadline approached, the company suddenly stopped negotiating.'' I’m ready.”
A strike would have affected national politics. North Carolina is a political battleground state with a Democratic governor, but President Biden narrowly lost the state in 2020. Biden has signaled he may step in aggressively to help Daimler employees, potentially putting him at odds with the state's pro-business Democrats in the months before Election Day.
The UAW is expanding into the South. This month, workers at the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, voted for union representation and won a major victory. Workers at a Mercedes-Benz factory in Alabama are scheduled to vote in mid-May on whether to form a union.
Workers at Daimler Trucks, which split from Mercedes-Benz in 2021, have represented the UAW for decades. The union won the largest pay raise in decades for workers at Ford Motor Co., General Motors Co., and Stellantis, the owner of Jeep, Chrysler and Ram, after a strike last year. He is taking a more assertive stance.
workers' interests at Daimler It could add momentum to the UAW's efforts to organize U.S. auto factories that include companies such as Toyota and Tesla.
Workers in North Carolina say they are struggling to make ends meet while Daimler makes huge profits. The Stuttgart-based company reported net profit of 4 billion euros ($4.25 billion) last year, up 44% from a year earlier. Sales in the United States, Canada and Mexico generated more than half of the profits.
The union points out that Thomas Built, whose yellow school buses are commonly seen, has benefited from millions of dollars in federal subsidies for electric buses. Thomas Bilt employees earn less than workers at other plants, but the deal will give them raises to make up for the deficit.
“Workers making trucks and workers making buses will receive equal pay for equal work,” Fein said.
The agreement also includes provisions aimed at preserving North Carolina jobs. Workers were looking for more job security after the company moved some of its production to Mexico.