Members of the Auto Workers Team unite outside the John Deere plant in Ankeny, Iowa last month.
Charlie Neibergall / AP
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Charlie Neibergall / AP
Members of the Auto Workers Team unite outside the John Deere plant in Ankeny, Iowa last month.
Charlie Neibergall / AP
DETROIT – The workers of Deere & Co. approved a new contract on Wednesday that will increase 10% immediately and end a month-long strike for more than 10,000 employees.
The United Auto Workers union said 61% of members approved the deal with the tractor manufacturer in the third vote, although the offer is very similar to the one 55% of workers rejected. denied two weeks ago.
This latest proposal makes only modest changes to the details of Deere’s internal incentive pay plan. The new contract includes 12 plants in Iowa, Illinois and Kansas that produce the iconic green farm and construction equipment of the Moline, Illinois-based company John Deere.
Union spokesman Brian Rothenberg said the company and the UAW were calculating when workers would return to factories.
After the final vote on November 2, Deere officials told the union not to expect the company to provide any additional funds, and Deere largely stuck to that promise in its latest offer. , which it calls the final offer.
The workers have been on strike since October 14. And in recent weeks, they’ve endured increasingly colder temperatures along the hotline while trying to get the union $275 in pay. weekly strike pay or by finding another job.
“UAW John Deere members not only unite themselves, they seem to unite the entire nation in their fight for equity in the workplace,” UAW President Ray Curry said in a statement late on Thursday night. Private.
In addition to the initial increase, this week’s offer keeps the 5% increase in the third and fifth years of the six-year agreement, and the 3% lump-sum payment in the second, fourth and sixth years of the agreement. The proposal would also provide an $8,500 approval bonus, maintain a pension option for new employees, help workers qualify for health insurance sooner, and maintain their premium-free health coverage. surname.
What Deere has done in this latest offering is tweak the complex formula it uses to determine which workers get bonuses based on whether their teams hit certain productivity goals. are not. The changes to the formula could make it easier for workers to qualify for incentive pay, but there are some Deere workers who aren’t eligible for bonuses based on the work they do in the company’s factories and warehouses. company.
Workers have been waiting for more from Deere, which predicts it will report record annual profits of between $5.7 billion and $5.9 billion when it releases its earnings report later this month. Initially, more than 90% of workers rejected Deere’s initial offer, but the second vote was much closer after the company essentially doubled the increase it offered.
Deere workers – and other unions – have been encouraged to ask for more this year because of ongoing worker shortages and because workers don’t always feel appreciated when they have to work long hours. hours during the pandemic.
Another group of workers represented by the UAW went on strike earlier this year at a Volvo Trucks plant in Virginia and received higher pay and lower-cost health benefits after turning down three project contract offers. ants. Currently, about 1,400 Kellogg workers have been on strike since early last month at the company’s four grain plants in the US.
