- About 2,300 union members at Mack Trucks walked off the job Oct. 9
- It came a day after they rejected a tentative contract agreement negotiated by the union's bargaining committee
- A final union vote is set for Wednesday
LOWER MACUNGIE TWP. — Union workers at Mack Trucks will vote this week on a proposed contract that they say the company is calling its last, best and final offer.
Members of United Auto Workers Local 677 have entered their sixth week of a strike that started Oct. 9 after both sides announced a tentative agreement.
Voting is set for Wednesday at the union hall on Mack Boulevard. Up for a vote are the master agreement Mack previously offered, as well as the local agreement covering the roughly 2,300 workers at Mack’s assembly plant in Lower Macungie Township.
"Negotiations are over, so we must bring everything back to the membership for a vote.”Mack Trucks Local 677 workers union’s negotiating team
“With that being said, negotiations are over, so we must bring everything back to the membership for a vote,” the union’s negotiating team said in a letter to members posted on the Local 677 website.
The company and union held their last negotiating session Tuesday, Nov. 7.
“The master proposal that we are presenting is the same proposal that was presented to the membership for our first vote,” the negotiating team’s letter said.
“We did get the company to agree to some significant changes in the local agreements since we have been on strike.”
Offers and consequences
The strike was called the morning after the union membership rejected the tentative contract agreement by a 73% margin.
"... The company will also hire replacement workers. What this means for you as a member is that you will lose your jobs unless you cross the picket lines ..."United Auto Workers Local 677 letter to members
The master agreement included a 10% general wage increase in the first year for all employees; an increase of about 20% to general wages over the five-year contract; and a company pledge that health insurance premiums would not change through the length of the contract.
Union members also were in line to each get a $3,500 ratification bonus.
Mack Trucks has said its offer includes a strong wage and benefits package, and noted UAW leadership called it a “record” contract for the heavy truck industry when the two sides declared they had a tentative deal.
The negotiating team’s letter detailed some of the next steps in its latest bargaining update to members
“If the master is voted down, there will be no $3,500 ratification bonus and the company will implement their last offer, we will still be on strike,” it said.
“That being said the company will also hire replacement workers. What this means for you as a member is that you will lose your jobs unless you cross the picket lines, and if they hire enough workers, you will not be able to go back to work until there is an opening. Also, per the company your insurance benefits will be cut off Dec. 1, 2023.”
