Negotiations resumed on Oct. 18 between Deere & Co. and United Auto Workers (UAW) officials after more than 10,000 production and warehouse workers at 11 factories in Illinois, Iowa, and Kansas, plus three distribution centers in Colorado, Georgia, and Illinois, walked off the job on Oct. 14 (GM Oct. 15, p. 27).
At issue are disputes over wage increases and benefits for employees after the company’s CEO compensation jumped and Deere projected in August that it was on pace for a record profit of $5.7-$5.9 billion this year. UAW representatives left the bargaining table on Oct. 13 after members rejected a tentative six-year collective bargaining agreement that would have given five percent wage hikes for some workers and a six percent boost to others.
“We remain committed to providing our production and maintenance employees with the opportunities to earn the best wages and most comprehensive benefits in our industries,” Jennifer Hartmann, a spokeswoman for Deere, said in an emailed statement to Bloomberg.
A company statement said the tentative agreement would have boosted the typical production employee’s annual wages from $60,000 to nearly $72,000, the equivalent of an hourly increase from $33 to nearly $40. Deere said the agreement also maintained healthcare benefits for production and maintenance employees that included $0 in deductibles, $0 in premiums, and $0 in co-insurance over the life of the contract, despite healthcare costs that are expected to rise from $12 to $17 per hour for the company over the contract term.
Deere said it also agreed to extend healthcare benefits to new employees as soon as 30 days after employment instead of the existing seven-month probationary period. In addition, the company said it offered a new retirement bonus and cash balance pension benefit that would have equated to lump sum payments of nearly $134,000 at the end of a career for a typical employee.
“The wages and benefits highlighted above are a significant step toward providing economic progress for our employees,” the company statement said. “We remain committed to hearing our employees’ priorities and continuing talks until the strike is resolved, while also keeping our operations running to support everyone who depends on us.”
The strike is the first labor action against the company in 35 years, and is occurring five months after Deere’s stock hit an all-time high of just over $400.34 per share, Bloomberg reported. The stock was trading at the $344 level on the afternoon of Oct. 20.
According to its third-quarter earnings report on Aug. 20, the company reported net income of $1.6 billion, up from $811 million one year earlier, Bloomberg reported. Worldwide net sales and revenues increased 29 percent during the quarter to $11.5 billion, and net sales of the equipment operations totaled $10.4 billion.
As the strike continues, the Associated Press reported that District Court Judge Marlita Greve on Oct. 20 issued a temporary restraining order that details how picketing workers at the company’s Davenport, Iowa, plant must conduct themselves. Deere officials had reportedly alleged that striking workers were disrupting access to the Davenport Works plant and putting others at risk.
Judge Greve’s order allows only four picketers at a time near the gates of the plant, bans the use of chairs and barrel fires, and prohibits picketers from harassing or intimidating people entering and leaving the plant, the Quad-City Times reported.
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds on Oct. 20 said she was confident that a resolution would be reached soon, the Des Moines Register reported. “They were back at the table on Monday, and I’m just hopeful that we can find resolution sooner rather than later,” she said during a news conference in Adel, Iowa.
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture and former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack was also in Iowa and met with striking workers on Oct. 20 at Deere’s plant in Ankeny. According to Bloomberg, Vilsack said it was support from the UAW that helped him come from behind to win the Iowa gubernatorial race in the late 1990s.
“The UAW is important to me,” Vilsack said. “I just wanted to stop by to let you know that I haven’t forgotten 23 years ago. I’m here today for you.”