About 7,200 Daimler Truck workers in three southern US states braced for a possible strike Friday as labor contract talks went down to the wire.
Representatives of the United Auto Workers and Daimler Truck are in talks over a new contract to replace the one that expires at midnight Friday night for workers who make long-haul trucks and buses.
The UAW, led by President Shawn Fain, has vowed to strike Daimler’s facilities, which consist of four manufacturing plants in North Carolina and one each in Tennessee and Georgia, if key demands are not met.
In a webcast earlier this week, Fain slammed Chairman Martin Daum for high executive pay and for funneling extra cash into shareholder payouts instead of adequately compensating workers.
“At the new UAW, we’re not making concessions. We’re raising the bar for everyone and fighting for what we deserve,” Fain said. “And we’re not afraid to knock to get it.”
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The UAW won a landmark unionization strike at the Volkswagen plant in Tennessee a week ago, building momentum after simultaneous strikes by Detroit’s “Big Three” automakers led to wage increases.
Jon Greene, a forklift driver at Daimler Truck’s manufacturing plant in Cleveland, North Carolina, called achieving sustainable wage growth in light of inflation a priority, along with job security and standardizing pay at the six plants.
“No one wants to go on strike, but we’re prepared to go on strike if we have to,” Green, who has been with the company for 22 years and is a UAW vice president, said in a telephone interview.
A Daimler spokeswoman said the company is “currently engaged in good faith negotiations” “that will benefit all parties and allow Daimler Truck North America to continue to provide products that enable our customers to keep the world moving.” .
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In December 2021, Daimler Truck was spun off from Mercedes-Benz, which holds around 30% of the truck company’s shares.
The UAW hopes to add a Mercedes-Benz auto plant in Alabama to its network when workers vote next month in union elections in the first referendum since VW’s victory in Tennessee.
Source: AFP