Steel Products

UAW, John Deere Come to Terms on New Six-Year Contract

Written by David Schollaert

November 18, 2021

United Auto Workers (UAW) members at John Deere ratified a new collective bargaining agreement on Wednesday, ending a month-long strike that had seen two previous deals rejected.

The UAW said 10,000 members ratified a new six-year contract offer by a vote of 61%, covering 14 facilities across the U.S. The previous two offers were rejected by 90% and 55% of the UAW membership, respectively.

“I’m pleased our highly skilled employees are back to work building and supporting the industry-leading products which make our customers more profitable and sustainable,” said John May, Deere’s chairman and CEO. “John Deere’s success depends on the success of our people. Through our new collective bargaining agreements, we’re giving employees the opportunity to earn wages and benefits that are the best in our industries and are groundbreaking in many ways. We have faith that, in return, our employees will find new and better ways to improve our competitiveness and transform the way our customers do their work. Together, our future is bright.”

The previous six-year contract between the UAW and Deere expired on Oct. 1, but had been extended pending ongoing negotiations. The union had been on strike since Wednesday, Oct. 13.

The new agreement includes an $8,500 signing bonus; 20% increase in wages over the lifetime of the contract with 10% this year; return of cost-of-living adjustments; three 3% lump sum payments; enhanced options for retirement; and enhanced CIPP performance benefits. Healthcare remains the same for the life of the agreement, the union said.

“UAW John Deere members did not just unite themselves, they seemed to unite the nation in a struggle for fairness in the workplace,” said Ray Curry, UAW president. “We could not be more proud of these UAW members and their families.”

By David Schollaert, David@SteelMarketUpdate.com

David Schollaert

David Schollaert is a senior analyst for Steel Market Update. David joined SMU after more than a decade in the metals and mining industry in a myriad of different roles. Much of his early experience and expertise were within the coverage and analysis of steel-making raw materials and served previously as senior editor of the CRU Prices Service. Most recently, however, before his return to market analysis, David held roles as a metals buyer and an operations manager for raw material suppliers. Based in CRU’s Pittsburgh office, David can be reached at david@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-720-1008.

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