Just before a United Auto Workers (UAW) union work stoppage was set to kick off early Saturday morning at Daimler Truck North America (DTNA) production facilities in North Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee, the two sides reached a tentative deal.
The four-year agreement delivers major economic gains for 7,300 workers, according to the UAW, including raises of more than 25% over the contract period, the end of wage tiers, and the introduction of profit-sharing and cost of living adjustments for the first time since Daimler workers first organized with the UAW.
[Related: Union files unfair labor charges against Daimler Truck with strike looming]
UAW President Shawn Fain called the new contract "a major victory," adding among the wins was the elimination of a pay structure that varied across DTNA assembly lines.
"We said that it shouldn't matter whether you build a heavy truck or a bus for Daimler. We said you should get paid the same for the same work," he said, "and we won equal pay for equal work, ending wage tiers at Daimler."
The contract calls for a 10% pay increase upon ratification, an additional 3% six months later and 3% additional six months later – a 16% pay bump in the first year of the contract. "Our lowest paid workers at Thomas Built Buses will see raises of over $8 an hour," Fain said. "Some Thomas Built Buses skilled trades members will get an over $17 an hour raise. That an over 60% pay increase."
The new contracts must still be ratified by union members at the local level, and "we hope to finalize them soon, for the mutual benefit of all parties," DTNA said via statement Friday night. A UAW spokesperson told CCJ Saturday morning a ratification date has not yet been set by the local unions.
Late last year, UAW leaders and Mack Trucks reached a tentative agreement that would have avoided a strike, but it was shot down by local membership and set off a nearly month-and-a-half long work stoppage at Mack Trucks facilities in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Florida.
