Daimler Truck faces imminent strike by over 7,300 US workers

FILE PHOTO: A sign showing the name of German truck maker Daimler is pictured at the IAA truck show in Hanover, September 22, 2016. REUTERS/Fabian Bimmer/File Photo

By Nathan Gomes

(Reuters) – Daimler Truck must reach a new labor contract with over 7,300 hourly workers at six facilities in the U.S. South by the end of Friday or face a possible strike by the United Auto Workers (UAW) union members.

The workers are seeking higher pay, institution of cost-of-living adjustments and greater job security from the heavy-truck maker, UAW President Shawn Fain said during an online speech earlier this week.

“Workers’ wages at Daimler have not kept up,” he said on Tuesday. “The workers are going to come for their fair share. In the new UAW, we don’t take concessions. We raise standards for everyone and we fight for what we deserve, and we’re not afraid to strike to get it.”

Fain is scheduled to hold a press conference at 10 pm ET, ahead of a midnight ET strike deadline, during which he is expected to outline whether a strike will occur.

The UAW, under Fain, has been aggressive in seeking large raises and other concessions from companies for its members. Last fall, UAW secured large payouts, including 25% pay raises over the life of the new deals, at the Detroit Three automakers – General Motors, Ford and Stellantis.

At Daimler Truck, which makes Freightliner and Western Star trucks and Thomas Built buses, about 96% of workers at four factories in North Carolina, and parts warehouses in Georgia and Tennessee voted in March to authorize a strike.

The union has filed unfair labor practice charges with the U.S. National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against the company, citing violation of workers’ rights and federal labor laws, and for failing to bargain in good faith.

Daimler Truck did not respond to a Reuters’ request for a comment on the matter.

Since the deals last fall with the Detroit Three, the UAW has turned its efforts to organizing non-union U.S. plants of more than a dozen automakers.

The UAW clinched a historic victory at a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee last week, and workers at a Mercedes factory in Vance, Alabama, are going to vote on whether to join the labor union during the week of May 13.

(Reporting by Nathan Gomes in Bengaluru, additional reporting by Ben Klayman in Detroit; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)