Union workers at Daimler Truck, which makes Freightliner and Western Star trucks as well as Thomas Built buses in North Carolina, won significant raises and cost-of-living increases.
Karen Bleier/AFP via Getty Images
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Karen Bleier/AFP via Getty Images
Union workers at Daimler Truck, which makes Freightliner and Western Star trucks as well as Thomas Built buses in North Carolina, have won significant increases in their costs of living and living expenses.
Karen Bleier/AFP via Getty Images
The United Auto Workers union announced late Friday that it had reached a new contract agreement that benefits 7,300 Daimler Truck North American workers. The union has threatened a strike starting at midnight when its last contract expires.
The majority of union employees work at plants in North Carolina, where Daimler makes Freightliner and Western Star trucks as well as Thomas Built buses. A small number of workers staff parts distribution centers in Atlanta and Memphis. The UAW’s first union workers at Daimler Truck began in the 1990s.
Like the Big 3 auto workers who walked off the job last fall, Daimler workers have demanded significant pay increases, reviving the slogan “record profits mean record contracts.” during last year’s strike.
The union said the new contract includes raises of at least 25 percent over four years, as well as living expenses and profit sharing, the first for Daimler Truck workers since they joined the UAW. Those benefits are similar to what the union guaranteed to Big 3 workers last fall.
Union workers still need to ratify the agreement.
Earlier Friday, Daimler Truck released a statement saying it is engaging in good faith negotiations with the UAW, working toward new contracts that are beneficial to both parties and “allow Daimler Truck North America to continue continue to deliver products that enable our customers to keep the world running.” .”
The climax of the negotiations took place just a week later The UAW scored an important victory in another Southern state, won a union election at the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tenn. This was the union’s third attempt at organizing the plant, after the first two ended in narrow defeats.
On May 13, workers at the Mercedes-Benz plant in Vance, Ala.will begin voting on whether to join the UAW.
Once part of the same company, Daimler Truck split from Mercedes-Benz in 2021. However, an outcome seen as favorable to workers in North Carolina could give the UAW a push not only in the the upcoming Mercedes-Benz election but also the ongoing union-boosting activities at Hyundai, Toyota, Honda and other foreign auto factories in the South.
The UAW pledged earlier this year to spend $40 million on organizing efforts through 2026, focusing on the South.
