Striking United Auto Workers members from the General Motors Lansing Delta Plant picket in Delta Township, Michigan, on Sept. 29, 2023.
Rebecca Cook | Reuters
DETROIT — United Auto Workers members with Volvo Group-owned Mack Trucks will vote this weekend on a tentative agreement that falls significantly wanting what the union is demanding in negotiations currently being held with Detroit automakers.
The Sunday vote by roughly 3,900 union members could test the willingness of workers to ratify a lesser deal compared to raised expectations set by UAW President Shawn Fain for hourly pay increases, equal pay for equal work, inflation protection and, potentially, shorter work weeks.
While Mack Trucks is a separate company and a special a part of the union than the section that covers members with General Motors, Ford Motor and Stellantis, some workers were expecting that they might receive similar increases and advantages as their union brethren on the Detroit automakers.
“For my part, the master contract just isn’t horrid. It is not a nasty contract, nevertheless it’s nowhere near what we were expecting,” a 12-year Mack Truck employee at the corporate’s Lehigh Valley Operations in Pennsylvania told CNBC.
The employee and several other other UAW members with Mack Trucks who asked not to be identified due to fear of retribution from the union or company said they plan to vote against the deal. Their reasons included the tentative agreement not meeting expectations, the length of the deal being a yr longer than before and the pay increases and bonuses not being enough to offset inflation or reward them for working through the Covid-19 pandemic.
“After we were getting into, we were following principally just like the automakers,” the employee said. “They’ve modified some things for the higher but, for my part, not enough.”
The Mack Trucks tentative agreement varies by location and job but for a lot of workers, it features a roughly 19% wage increase over the five-year deal, including 10% upon ratification; $3,500 ratification bonuses; increased 401(k) company payments; and other advantages. It doesn’t include the elimination of wage tiers (it only has a one-year reduction that will bring the steps to five years); re-instatement of traditional pensions; cost-of-living adjustments to battle inflation; or shorter work weeks.
The Mack Trucks tentative agreement is not a nasty deal, nevertheless it’s not close to the 40% pay increase, inflation protection, work/life balance and other bonuses and advantages Fain has set as the usual for negotiations with the Detroit automakers. For the Detroit automakers, pay tiers even have been no less than cut in half from eight years — a timeframe Fain, a former auto employee, said Friday was “not acceptable.”
Mack Trucks and UAW announced the tentative agreement early Monday, followed by releasing “highlights” of the deal later within the week to members. Neither UAW nor Mack Trucks have publicly released the tentative contract ahead of worker meetings to detail the agreement and voting this weekend.
One other Mack Trucks employee descried the deal as “disgraceful” and an “insult” compared to their expectations and what’s currently being negotiated by UAW international leaders with the Detroit automakers, also referred to as the Big Three.
“We’re low man on totem pole, and we’re getting no backing from international,” said a greater than 10-year material technician. “They are only pushing this [tentative agreement] through so that they haven’t got to deal with us while the Big Three are negotiating.”
United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain during a web based broadcast updating union members on negotiations with the Detroit automakers on Oct. 6, 2023.
Screenshot
UAW declined to comment on the comparison in contracts between Mack Trucks and the Detroit automakers. Mack Trucks President Stephen Roy, in a Monday statement, said the tentative agreement “would deliver significantly increased wages and proceed first-class advantages for Mack employees and their families,” while keeping the corporate competitive.
One other veteran employee at Mack Truck’s Lehigh Valley Operations in Pennsylvania said they weren’t expecting the identical raises and advantages as what’s being negotiated with the Detroit automakers, but they were in search of greater than what’s in the present tentative agreement.
“We pay dues identical to the Big Three,” said the roughly 20-year Mack Trucks worker who has worked several positions with the corporate. “We must always get no less than the identical sort of negotiation options.”
Certainly one of the “options” mentioned by Mack Truck workers was conducting goal strikes like what’s happening on the Detroit automakers to fight for extra wages and advantages, specifically, the reinstatement of cost-of-living adjustments to combat inflation.
“My honest opinion, I believed we were going out on strike because there isn’t any COLA in it,” the employee said. So, in five years, we’re going to be right back in the identical hole.”
Marick Masters, a business professor at Wayne State University in Detroit who focuses on labor issues, said it is vital to note that Mack Trucks just isn’t in the identical position because the Detroit automakers. Nevertheless, inflated expectations from union members is usually a problem.
“The UAW is usually a victim of its own success,” he said. “They get deal here and everybody’s going to say we would like the identical thing … but they operate in numerous industries or different segments of the larger industry which have different financial considerations, and I believe that is just what you are seeing here.”