President Biden on Sunday celebrated a new collective bargaining agreement between the United Auto Workers (UAW) and Daimler. The union continues its winning streak in hopes of expanding the union.
South.
Labor unions and the German truck maker reached an agreement Saturday, averting a strike for about 7,000 workers at factories in North Carolina and distribution centers across the South.
Biden: “I applaud the UAW and Daimler for reaching a tentative record deal” stated in a statement. “His UAW workers at Daimler are building the trucks and school buses of the future right here in America.”
“This agreement is a testament to the power of collective bargaining and shows that we can build a clean energy economy with strong middle-class union jobs,” he added.
UAW President Sean Fein said the new contract includes wage increases of more than 25% over the next four years, including a 10% increase once the agreement is ratified. Fein said the agreement also includes the elimination of the company’s wage tiers, as well as cost-of-living adjustments and “the first profit sharing in Daimler history.”
The deal with Daimler comes amid a broader campaign by the UAW to organize a southern auto assembly plant following a lucrative new contract in opposition to the Detroit automaker. Last week, 73% of those who voted at the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, chose to join the UAW. It was a first for the union at a southern assembly plant owned by a foreign automaker.
Workers at the Mercedes factory in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, are scheduled to vote on UAW representation in May. But the UAW’s efforts have drawn opposition from Republican governors and business leaders in the South.
The Associated Press contributed.
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