Mack Trucks Get What They Wanted; Back to the Factory They Go

Alejandro Guzmani / shutterstock.com
Alejandro Guzmani / shutterstock.com

Strikes from United Auto Workers spread out for various automakers throughout this year. As unions saw automakers transitioning to electric vehicles, they knew productions would be changing. Seeing boards awarding C-Suite level employees bigger bonuses than an entire shift’s combined salaries, they wanted to grab theirs.

Mack Trucks (a division of Volvo Trucking) saw their UAW-member employees walk out on October 10th. They returned 39 days later on November 16th for a five-year deal to their Florida, Maryland, and Pennsylvania plants. The deal was ratified with 93% of union members approving the deal.

Listening to Volvo tell the tale, they got the victory with UAW employees taking a deal that was largely the same as the one they initially presented on October 8th.

Getting 19% more money over the life of the deal, 10% will be given in the first year, and the other nine percent spread out over the following 4 years. One of the conditions most recently demanded was better-localized terms for contracts. Realizing that each plant will have its own needs and concerns, the Union claims they got “significant local improvements.”

Hearing Volvo talk about this, it becomes a question of what went wrong with UAW. The union was able to get great deals for the big three automakers and get the employees almost everything they asked for. To hear Volvo talk about this deal, they won, and Mack Trucks employees should be lucky they were even willing to offer the same deal. Holding out for a month’s unpaid picketing just to get what you could have had a month ago doesn’t send a strong message. Maybe it’s time they got a new President; one that’s more like their mascot.