UAW strikes: Mack Truck workers vote 'no' on deal; GM 'resisting' concessions with Unifor as deadline looms
As United Auto Workers' (UAW) negotiations with the Big Three — GM, Stellantis, and Ford — roll on, union members at Mack Trucks (VOLV-B.ST) made a bold move to reject a tentative deal with company management. This comes as Canada’s auto union, Unifor, says GM is making negotiations difficult, as a big deadline looms for tonight.
Late on Sunday, the UAW announced workers voted to reject a tentative agreement its negotiators made with the truckmaker with a 73% “no” vote, prompting workers to strike at 7 a.m. ET on Monday. "I'm inspired to see UAW members at Mack holding out for a better deal, and ready to stand up and walk off the job to win it," UAW president Shawn Fain said via the UAW’s X account. The union has 4,000 workers at Mack Trucks plants in Pennsylvania, Florida, and Maryland.
In a letter to Volvo North America Trucks (which owns Mack Trucks) head of labor relations Holly Georgell, Fain stated the union's demands of the trucking company are similar to those of the Big Three, including cost of living allowances (COLA), wage progression, job security, pension, healthcare, and other issues.
"We clearly demonstrated our commitment to good faith bargaining by arriving at a tentative agreement that was endorsed by both the International UAW and the UAW Mack Truck Council," Mack Trucks CEO Stephen Roy said. Roy added that he was “surprised and disappointed” by the vote to reject the deal, which included a 19% pay hike, a $3,500 ratification bonus, increased retirement benefits, additional vacation time, and a decrease in time for wage progression to top pay.
Meanwhile in Canada, the country’s Unifor auto workers union said GM (GM) was "resisting" a number of important elements that the union secured with Ford (F), with a strike deadline looming Monday night at 11:59 p.m ET.
Unifor, like the UAW in the US, uses a “pattern agreement” with one automaker to use as a template for the others. Unifor chose GM as its second target after Ford, to hammer out issues it has with the Detroit-based automaker using concessions gained from its Ford deal.
GM is reportedly resistant to conceding expanding benefits to GM’s full-time temporary workers, a universal healthcare allowance for retirees beyond Canada’s national healthcare program, and outlining future project and hiring commitments — namely with new factories that will build batteries and next-gen vehicles. Unifor representatives did not immediately respond following Yahoo Finance’s request for comment.
Earlier last month, Unifor ratified a new three-year contract with Ford that offered wage increases of up to 25%, COLA protection, and a reduction of the wage progression wait time to four years for top pay for the approximately 5,600 workers at Canadian Ford facilities.
If a deal is not reached, Unifor’s 4,300 workers at GM Canada facilities will potentially go on strike late Monday night.
Pras Subramanian is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on Twitter and on Instagram.
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