John Deere strike ends as UAW members ratify contract offer

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The United Auto Workers union announced on Wednesday that 61% of Deere members voted for what the company had described as its last and best offer.

Both offers, the bid that was rejected on Nov. 2 and the offer that was accepted on Wednesday, contain significant benefits for union members. Both include an immediate 10% raise, a $8,500 signing bonus, additional 5% raises in the third and fifth years of the proposed six-year deal, and additional lump sum payments equal to 3% of wages in years two, four, and six . In addition, it reinstated a cost of living adjustment to protect workers from increases in consumer prices. Such clauses used to be common in union contracts, but have become relatively rare in recent years.

The union said the offer that is the subject of this week’s vote contains “modest changes” from that previously rejected preliminary agreement.

The company will inform the strikers when they are expected to return to work. The vote and the deal were praised by the leadership of both the UAW and Deere.

“I am pleased that our highly skilled employees are back at work,” said CEO John May. “John Deere’s success depends on the success of our people. Through our new collective bargaining agreements, we give employees the opportunity to earn wages and benefits that are the best in our industries and groundbreaking in many ways.”

“The courageous willingness of our members to strike to achieve a better standard of living and a more secure retirement resulted in a groundbreaking contract and set a new standard for workers not only within the UAW but across the country,” UAW said. Vice President Chuck Browning. , head of the Deere union unit.

But despite the improved wages and benefits, many union members apparently voted no on all three votes. They believed that Deere, which has posted record profits in recent quarters on strong demand for its agricultural and construction equipment, could afford to give more, especially after previous contracts in which workers had given the company several concessions.

The union had reached an initial preliminary agreement with the company on Oct. 1, but 90% of full members agreed to that deal in a vote that closed on Oct. 10. That vote led to the start of the strike four days later. The next vote ending Nov. 2 had more support but still failed with only 45% voting in favor of a deal that would have sent them back to work two weeks ago.

After the November 2 vote by the union that rejected the second preliminary agreement, the company said it could not improve economic conditions for another. Marc Howze, Deere’s chief administrative officer in an interview with CNN Business, said the company would consider all options to serve its customers, including the ability to import products from overseas factories or hire replacement workers.

But importing products creates other problems given the current supply chain problems in the US. And there is a near record number of job openings, leaving employers struggling to fill most jobs, let alone jobs that require an employee to cross a picket line to report to work.

The dynamics of the current labor market have encouraged unions and their members to flex their muscles, with a significant proportion of the grassroots demanding even more than union negotiators had agreed.

Earlier this week, members of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), workers who perform a wide variety of non-acting and non-directing roles for feature films, television shows and streaming programs, voted just 50.3% for the deals reached by their unions. , narrowly averting a 63,000 workers’ strike in what would be the largest private sector work stoppage since 2007. There are 1,400 workers at the grain producer kellogg (k) who have been on strike for more than 6 weeks, and nearly 1,000 Alabama miners who have gone on strike against Warrior With Coal (HCC) since April 1

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