Dive Brief:
- The United Auto Workers announced its members voted to approve a new contract with Mack Trucks, bringing an end to a 39-day strike on Wednesday evening.
- The union announced the vote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, and noted "significant local improvements" in the new contract language. UAW said 93% of the roughly 3,900 striking workers approved the deal.
- A return to work scheduled for Monday would mean production resumes at five plants, including one in Pennsylvania where all of Mack’s Class 8 trucks are assembled, including its Mack LR Electric refuse truck. Details aren’t available on the new contract yet.
Dive Insight:
A union representative did not respond to a request for comment. Mack President Stephen Roy hailed the new five-year contract in a statement on Wednesday.
"The new agreement guarantees significant wage growth and delivers excellent benefits for our employees and their families," Roy said. "At the same time, it will safeguard our competitiveness and allow us to continue making the necessary investments in our people, plants and products."
The deal comes after workers overwhelmingly rejected a prior tentative agreement in October, setting the stage for a walkout. That deal included a 19% pay raise, but did not include cost-of-living adjustments, something union members had wanted to see after the UAW gave up such adjustments in the wake of the Great Recession.
The prior contract lapsed on Oct. 9. Mack Trucks’ initial offer included a 19% pay raise and incremental improvements to the agreement’s retirement policy, though workers at the time objected to a policy locking some employees out of the union’s pension plan. It also included a $3,500 ratification bonus that union officials said may have been jeopardized if the strike continued, Trucking Dive reported.
Mack Trucks, owned by Volvo, began assembling all of its Class 8 trucks at its Lower Macungie Township, Pennsylvania, plant in 2008. The manufacturer is a major provider of diesel, compressed natural gas, and battery-electric vehicles to the waste industry. Mack Truck workers last went on strike in 2019.
