Union workers at Daimler Trucks, which makes Freightliner and Western Star trucks and Thomas Built buses in North Carolina, have won significant increases in cost-of-living allowances and wages.
Karen Blair/AFP via Getty Images
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Karen Blair/AFP via Getty Images
Union workers at Daimler Trucks, which makes Freightliner and Western Star trucks and Thomas Built buses in North Carolina, have won significant increases in cost-of-living allowances and wages.
Karen Blair/AFP via Getty Images
The United Auto Workers union announced late Friday that it has reached a favorable new contract deal for 7,300 Daimler Trucks North America workers. The union had threatened to begin a strike at midnight when its final contract expired.
A large portion of the union employees work at plants in North Carolina, where Daimler makes Freightliner and Western Star trucks and Thomas Built buses. Parts distribution centers in Atlanta and Memphis staff a small number of employees. The UAW first unionized workers at Daimler Trucks in the 1990s.
Like Big Three automakers who walked off the job last fall, Daimler workers are demanding significant raises, reviving last year’s strike slogan “Record profits mean record contracts.”
The union said the new contract includes a raise of at least 25% over four years, as well as cost of living allowances and profit sharing, a first for Daimler Truck workers since joining the UAW. Those gains are similar to what the union won last fall for Big 3 workers.
Union workers still need to ratify the agreement.
Earlier on Friday, Daimler Trucks issued a statement saying it was negotiating in good faith with the UAW, working toward new contracts that will benefit both parties and “to ensure the success of Daimler Trucks North America.” “Will allow us to continue delivering the products that enable our customers to keep the world running.” ,
The culmination of the talks came just a week after the UAW won a significant victory in another Southern state, winning a union election at Volkswagen’s plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee. This was the union’s third attempt to organize the plant, after the first two failed. narrow necklace.
On May 13, Vance, Ala. Employees at a Mercedes-Benz plant in Washington will begin voting about joining the UAW.
Once part of the same company, Daimler Trucks spun off from Mercedes-Benz in 2021. Still, a favorable result for workers in North Carolina could give the UAW not only a boost in the upcoming Mercedes-Benz election, but also an ongoing union drive. Hyundai, Toyota and Honda, among other foreign-owned auto plants in the south.
The UAW pledged earlier this year to spend $40 million on organizing efforts through 2026, focusing on the South.
