Mack Trucks confirmed the deal on Monday after the UAW’s announcement just before midnight Sunday…reports Asian Lite News
The United Auto Workers (UAW) has reached a tentative five-year contract agreement with Mack Trucks that covers about 4,000 workers in the US states of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Florida amid the ongoing strike.
Mack Trucks confirmed the deal on Monday after the UAW’s announcement just before midnight Sunday, reports Xinhua news agency.
The temporary agreement must still be ratified by the UAW.
“The terms of this tentative agreement would deliver significantly increased wages and continue first-class benefits for Mack employees and their families,” said Mack President Stephen Roy in a statement.
“At the same time, it would allow the company to successfully compete in the market, and continue making the necessary investments in our people, plants and products,” he added.
The UAW said that more details would become available as members review the tentative deal with Mack, one of North America’s largest manufacturers of medium-duty trucks, heavy-duty trucks, proprietary engines, and transmissions, according to its official website.
Founded in 1900, Mack Trucks was purchased by Volvo Group in 2000.
Meanwhile, the UAW’s strike against the Big Three US automakers has entered the 18th day.
So far, about 25,300 out of some 146,000 workersrepresented by the UAW have been on strike across the country.
The tentative agreement showed the union’s willingness to reach an agreement on its ambitious bargaining demands, CNN reported.
If it had gone on strike, it would have been another drain on the resources in the union’s strike fund, which stood at $825 million heading into the work stoppage at the other three automakers.
There are now more than 25,000 UAW members on strike at the three companies after the union expanded its targeted strike to two more assembly plants on Friday. Each striker is receiving $500 in strike benefits, CNN reported.
The union is also paying the same benefits to about 3,000 members who have been laid off by the companies because their work had been disrupted during the strike. That means nearly a $14 million a week drain on the fund, it was reported.
