United States: 10,000 John Deere employees go on strike

About 10,000 workers in EE.UU. Farm and construction machinery maker John Deere began a strike on Thursday after the United Auto Workers (UAW) union rejected the company’s proposed collective bargaining agreement.

UAW Vice President Chuck Browning said in a statement that John Deere employees went on strike “to earn a decent wage, retire with dignity and establish fair work rules.”

John Deere had offered in negotiations with the UAW salary increases of between 5% and 6% but the union considered the proposal insufficient. The company notes that its workers already have some of the best wages and benefits in the industry.

According John Deere, the average employee’s salary is about $ 60,000 a year. For its part, the UAW said the company is making record profits and that its executives, including its CEO, John May, have received steep increases in their salaries.

May went from earning $ 5 million in 2019 to $ 16 million in 2020.

This year, the company expects to have record profits of between $ 5.7 billion and $ 5.9 billion. Union experts have pointed out that in these times of labor shortages in the American economy, workers have more strength to demand improvements in their collective bargaining agreements.

UAW President Ray Curry explained that John Deere workers “have worked through the pandemic after the company deemed them essential to produce the equipment that powers America, builds America and powers the American economy.”

UAW has indicated that workers in John Deere They have set up informational pickets at the plants and are ready to hold the strike, the first in 35 years that affects the entire company, until their demands are accepted.