UAW, Mack Trucks Ratify New Collective Bargaining Agreement
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Mack Trucks on Nov. 15 announced that members of the United Auto Workers union ratified a new five-year collective bargaining agreement with the company, covering about 3,900 employees at facilities in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Florida.
“The new agreement guarantees significant wage growth and delivers excellent benefits for our employees and their families,” said Mack President Stephen Roy in a statement. “At the same time, it will safeguard our competitiveness and allow us to continue making the necessary investments in our people, plants and products.”
According to a Mack spokesperson, the terms of the approved master agreement match those in a tentative contract that union leaders had supported but which workers had rejected Oct. 8. Under the previously agreed terms, unionized employees would see an average wage increase over five years of 36%, with an average immediate wage increase for all covered employees of nearly 15%. For employees not earning the top rate, the average increase over five years would be 55%, and the average immediate wage increase would be more than 20%.
Roy
The truck maker on Nov. 8 said the union was taking the previously agreed terms of the master contract back to its members. At that time, it noted that local agreements had been revised.
The vote brings to a close a weekslong battle that just a few days prior had Mack committing to hire replacement workers to restart work at their factories if union workers remained off the job.
“If the contract is not ratified, we will implement our final offer and make the terms of that offer available to any employees who choose to return to work,” a Mack Trucks spokeswoman said in an email Nov. 13. “If enough employees don’t return, we would hire replacement workers.”
UAW Locals 171, 677, 1247, 2301 and 2420 in UAW Region 8 and Region 9 represent workers in Macungie and Middletown, Pa., Hagerstown and Baltimore, Md., and Jacksonville, Fla.
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Prior talks over the master contract broke down in the final week of October. Talks had restarted Oct. 23 and carried on through Oct. 26. At that point, the truck maker said the union’s economic demands were “unrealistic.” The two sides previously had met on Oct. 19.
UAW-affiliated employees at the five Mack Trucks facilities — including Lehigh Valley Operations in Macungie and Hagerstown Powertrain Operations in Maryland — walked out Oct. 9 after 73% initially voted down the tentative agreement.
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