A strike by the United Auto Workers at Mack Trucks entered its second week Monday. Bargainers plan to resume talks Thursday.
It is not unusual for a strike following rejection of a tentative agreement to release built-up worker pressure. Mack has said nothing publicly since exressing surprise and dismay that 73% of the workers turned down the tentative five-year agreement on Oct. 8.
That agreement would have increased wages 19% over five years with a 10% raise front-loaded. It did not address cost-of-living adjustments (COLA) that workers say are critical to wages keeping up with inflation.
The UAW International agreed to forgo COLAs during the Great Recession in 2009. Restoring them is a major issue in an ongoing strike against the Detroit Three automakers General Motors, Ford and Stellantis that began Sept. 15.
Currently, 34,000 of 146,000 UAW-represented autoworkers are on strikes at UAW-targeted Detroit Three plants. The union said it may strike any or all remaining plants depending on bargaining progress.
Mack Trucks strike affects plants in 3 states
The Mack strike coincides with but is separate from the Detroit Three strike. It affects six Mack and Volvo Group facilities in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Florida. Workers at sibling Volvo Trucks North America in New River Valley, Virginia, work under a separate four-year agreement. VTNA imposed terms of that agreement after a split vote on the third of three tentative agreements reached in 2021.
Mack’s medium-duty truck plant in Roanoke, Virginia, is also unaffected because it began operation after the last UAW agreement was reached following a 12-day strike in 2019. Workers there are not included in the master labor agreement.
It is unknown whether the UAW is seeking to bring Mack’s Roanoke operations under the master agreement and represent the 250 workers there. Mack Trucks North America President Jonathan Randall declined to discuss the strike Monday at the American Trucking Associations Management Conference and Exhibition in Austin, Texas.
The company begins regular production of Class 6 and 7 battery-powered medium-duty trucks in Roanoke in the fourth quarter in addition to diesel-powered models. Mack has about a 5% share of the medium-duty truck market. That’s ahead of internal projections for the 3-year-old plant.
Mack expects to end the year with a 5.5% share of the medium-duty market, in line with its 2022 share, Randall said.
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