About 4,000 members of the United Auto Workers union went on strike against Mack Trucks on Monday after rejecting a preliminary contract union leaders had struck with the company.
The union notified the truck maker on Sunday that its members opposed the contract with 73% of the votes, and a strike would begin at Mack factories in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Florida.
“Our members have been talking, and as the union’s highest authority, we have the final say,” UAW President Sean Fein said in a letter to Volvo Trucks, Mack’s parent company.
The two sides have been negotiating for three months over a wide range of issues including wage increases, cost of living benefits, job security, pensions, prescription drug coverage and overtime. The proposed contract included a 19% raise over five years and a $3,500 bonus for ratifying the agreement.
Mack President Stephen Roy said in a statement that the company is “surprised and disappointed,” noting that UAW negotiators called the tentative agreement “a record deal for the heavy-duty truck industry.” Ta.
Commercial truck sales are slowly recovering from the disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Volvo expects industry-wide truck sales in North America to increase by about 10% this year. Mac has an approximately 6% share of the North American market.
Mack’s strike comes amid UAW strikes at factories and distribution centers owned by three automakers: General Motors, Ford Motor Co., and Stellantis, which makes Chrysler, Jeep and Ram vehicles. .
The auto strike began about a month ago at three factories, and the UAW expanded the strike to increase pressure on manufacturers. About 25,000 of the 150,000 UAW workers employed by the three automakers are on strike. The outage also affects two GM-owned plants, two Ford-owned plants, one Stellantis-owned plant, as well as 38 spare parts warehouses owned by GM and Stellantis.
The automaker offered a wage increase of more than 20% over four years. The company also agreed to shorten the time it takes for new employees to earn raises from entry-level wages of about $17 an hour to the top level of $32 an hour from eight to four years.
Unions are calling for further wage increases, saying wage increases over the past 15 years have not kept pace with inflation. It also requires companies to provide pensions to more workers, pay for retirees’ medical expenses and convert temporary workers to permanent employees.