According to the recent news coming from the Deere & Co. construction company, above 10,000 workers went on strike on Thursday 14th Oct when the new wage agreement presented by the company failed to meet the needs of the workers.
The United Auto Workers Union (UAW) said in a statement “the company failed to present an agreement that met our members’ demands and needs.”
UAW stated last week that the workers will walk off the job if the company fails to present another agreement by Wednesday 11.59 pm.
The first agreement was presented by the agriculture giant who is famous for its green machinery, which was rejected by a majority of the union members.
According to the first rejected agreement, the contract would deliver the 5% increment to some and 6% raise to other workers of the same company which depicts the discrimination among the workers.
Ray Curry, the UAW president said:
“The almost one million UAW retirees and active members stand in solidarity with the striking UAW members at John Deere,”
In a statement, the Labor Relations at Deere & Co. Brad Morris said that we at Deere & Co. are “committed to a favorable outcome for our employees, our communities and everyone involved.”
He also stated that the company wants the improvement and the betterment of the employees that eventually upgrade the position of the workers.
Morris added “We will keep working day and night to understand our employees’ priorities and resolve this strike, while also keeping our operations running for the benefit of all those we serve,”
It’s been 35 years since the company has faced a strike. This time the workers were demanded to work for more hours as the company was facing a shortage of workers due to the pandemic.
Earlier this year, a team of workers presented by the UAW group went on strike in Virginia working in Volvo Trucks. As a result, they manage to get even better pay and health benefits at lower costs when they reject three wage deals presented by the company.
The Deere & Co. production plant has been an important contributor to the economy of the US. Therefore, the officials at the company expect that the strike won’t last long.
Sangeetha Rayapati Moline Mayor stated in an interview to the Quad-Cities Times.
“We want to see our economy stabilize and grow after the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Hopefully, these parties can come to a resolution soon.”
