UAW workers, Volvo-owned Mack Trucks reach ‘tentative’ deal to avoid strike

The United Auto Workers (UAW) announced a “tentative agreement” with Volvo Group-owned Mack Trucks just before midnight on Sunday, potentially staving off a strike by its 4,000 workers, the union and the company said.

The temporary agreement, which includes increased wages and additional benefits, comes after about 98% of the truck company’s workers had authorized a strike last month. It must still be ratified before it is officially accepted.

“The terms of this tentative agreement would deliver significantly increased wages and continue first-class benefits for Mack employees and their families,” Mack President Stephen Roy said in a statement.

The UAW is currently in an ongoing strike against the Detroit 3 automakers, General Motors, Ford and Stellantis.

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Striking United Auto Workers members from the General Motors Lansing Delta Plant picket in Delta Township, Michigan, Sept. 29, 2023. (REUTERS/Rebecca Cook / Reuters Photos)

The company said on Thursday its bargaining teams had reached tentative agreements, but certain discussions at the time were still ongoing.

“While it is true that the parties are currently far apart on the economics, this is not unusual at this point in the negotiations, and we expect progress in the coming days,” Mack said.

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Mack, founded in 1900, boasts on its website as being one of North America’s largest manufacturers of medium-duty and heavy-duty trucks, engines and transmissions. Its products are sold in nearly 30 countries.

Volvo bought Mack in 2000.

Striking United Auto Workers union workers picket outside the Ford Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, Michigan, Sept. 23, 2023. (REUTERS/Dieu-Nalio Chery/File Photo / Reuters Photos)

Workers across industries, including car manufacturers, airlines, shipping, retail and entertainment, have been pressing for better wages and benefits from large U.S. companies in recent months due to high inflation and low unemployment.

While some groups have been able to leverage their positions to garner increased wages, some other companies and unions have been unable to negotiate new terms.

The UAW strike entered its third week on Friday, when company leaders blasted UAW over stalled negotiations and UAW chief Shawn Fain responded in kind.

GM CEO Mary Barra late Friday discredited current negotiating efforts, accusing the union of having “no real intent to get to an agreement.”

The Federal Highway Administration conducts demonstrations of partially automated semi-truck platoons Sept. 14, 2017, with three specially equiped Volvo semitrucks in Centreville, Virginia. (PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)

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Fain, in response, said it was Ford CEO Jim Farley and other company leaders that were failing to negotiate.

“I don’t know why Jim Farley is lying about the state of negotiations,” Fain said. “It could be because he failed to show up for bargaining this week, as he has for most of the past 10 weeks.”

Reuters contributed to this report.