Biden praises UAW-Daimler Truck agreement as a ‘testament to the power of collective bargaining’
By Eva Rothenberg, CNN
New York (CNN) — President Joe Biden praised the United Auto Workers and Daimler Truck for reaching a tentative in the eleventh hour Friday night, preventing a potential strike affecting 7,300 workers.
“This agreement is a testament to the power of collective bargaining and shows that we can build a clean energy economy with strong, middle-class union jobs,” Biden said in a statement Sunday.
The “record contract” includes raises of more than 25% over the next four years, inflation protections like cost-of-living considerations, and the first profit-sharing deal in Daimler history, UAW President Shawn Fain said Friday night on Facebook Live.
Daimler is a major manufacturer of trucks and buses, responsible for producing Thomas Built buses, one of the most popular brands of school buses in the United States.
CNN has reached out to Daimler Truck for comment.
The tentative agreement comes on the heels of increased momentum for the UAW. Earlier this month, hourly workers at Volkswagen’s plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, overwhelming voted to join the union, a major breakthrough in the union’s effort to organize workers at plants nationwide.
The union has also announced an effort to represent workers at nine other foreign automakers with American plants — BMW, Honda, Hyundai, Mazda, Mercedes, Nissan, Subaru, Toyota and Volvo. It has already filed to have a representation election at the Mercedes plant in Vance, Alabama, just outside Tuscaloosa. That vote is set to take place next month and conclude May 17.
The recent organizing efforts are capitalizing on a successful six-week strike last fall at the nation’s three unionized automakers — General Motors, Ford and Stellantis. The subsequent contract negotiations won record pay increases for UAW members at the three companies.
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CNN’s Chris Isidore contributed to this report.
