MOLINE, IL – More than 10,000 Deere & Co. workers – across 14 production plants – went on strike Thursday at midnight after “the company failed to present an agreement that met our members’ demands and needs,” the United Auto Workers union said in statement.
Thirty-five years have passed since the last major Deere strike.
The Associated Press reports that the union had said its members would walk off the job if no deal has been reached by 11:59 p.m.
The vast majority of the union rejected a contract offer earlier this week that would have delivered 5% raises to some workers and 6% raises to others.
UAW President Ray Curry said, “The almost one million UAW retirees and active members who stand in solidarity with the striking UAW members at John Deere.”
The International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW) is one of the largest and most diverse unions in the country.
This is the nation’s largest private-sector strike since the UAW waged a costly six-week strike against General Motors two years ago. It continues a recent trend of workers flexing more muscle as the dynamics of the labor market shift more toward them and away from employers.
However, the US Labor Department reports that the number of strikes so far this year is actually down compared to the same period of 2019, the year before the Covid-19 pandemic riled labor markets
