The United Auto Workers (UAW) issued a
statement on November 12, headlined "Strike continues through
ratification vote," that informed John Deere has made "a last, best and
final offer to the UAW negotiating team," which will be presented to
the members for ratification. Workers at John Deere have been on strike
since October 14 and have voted down two company offers. The strike
involves about 10,000 workers in 13 locations in Colorado, Georgia,
Illinois, Iowa and Kansas. It is the first strike in 35 years against
the world's largest agricultural and construction equipment company.
More than 90 per cent of UAW members at Deere rejected the first
contract presented to them.
The locals on strike are:
Local 74, Ottumwa, Iowa (John Deere Ottumwa Works)
Local 94, Dubuque, Iowa (John Deere)
Local 186, Denver, Colorado (John Deere)
Local 434, Moline, Illinois (John Deere)
Local 450, Des Moines, Iowa (John Deere Des Moines Works)
Local 472, Covington, Georgia (John Deere)
Local
2366, Coffeyville,
Kansas (John Deere Coffeyville Works)
Since
going on strike, members have been maintaining 24/7 picket lines.
Locals have printed shirts that read "Deemed Essential in 2020. Prove
It in 2021. Can't Build It From Home." On October 18, several locals
made a push for large morning pickets. In Waterloo, Iowa, members
reported a three-hour backup of salaried workers and
management employees attempting to cross the line; in Davenport, two
and a half hours. A mass "show of force" by Local 865 at Deere's
Harvester Works in East Moline, Illinois, drew 1,000 picketers and
stretched for 15 blocks. Workers have persisted with similar tactics.
They have also received overwhelming support from their communities as well as farmworkers and many others.
Workers are insisting on eliminating a two-tier system put in place
back in 1997. Conditions, wages and benefits are so different that
workers refer to pre- and post-1997. Those hired since 1997 are paid
substantially less and have no retiree health benefits. Now, Deere
wants a third tier with future workers facing these same cuts and
ineligible
for pensions.
Like other monopolies, Deere is offering wage increases that are
actually cuts, as they do not keep up with the current five per cent
inflation rate. The tentative six-year agreement voted down included a
five per cent raise in year one. In 2022, 2024, and 2026, workers would
receive two per cent lump sums instead of wage increases, a method
to further lower wages and sums far below inflation. Effectively the
increase in actual wages is only five per cent.
As a Milan, Illinois union representative put it, "In 1997, Deere
reported a net income of $817 million. In 2021, they are projected to
make $5.7 billion." Meanwhile, the starting wage at Deere has gone from
just under $15 in 1997 to just over $20 in the current offer. "While
Deere profit has grown almost 700 per cent since 1997, our buying
power has shrunk by 35 per cent."
Although Deere workers are considered "critically essential" because
they manufacture farm equipment, their rights are being brutally
attacked. Deere has also proposed ending the plant closure moratorium,
doing away with overtime pay after eight hours, eliminating
seniority-based wage progressions, forcing workers to pay 20 per cent
of their
health insurance premiums, and many other draconian concessions. While
the strike has forced Deere to back down on some of these, their demand
for three tiers, low wages and more persists.
The company has also sought court injunctions to block picket lines
and other union activity. In one case they secured the injunction, in
another they did not. One judge denied Deere's request to restrict
picketing of its Des Moines Works in Ankeny, Iowa, saying that despite
hours of security video, Deere had failed to prove its contention that
UAW members have frequently engaged in unlawful activity. In the other
a judge granted a temporary injunction against strikers who trespass on
the company's Davenport Works facility or block its entrance and exits.
He limited the number of picketers to no more than four at each gate of
the facility.
Workers remain undaunted and have persisted in their struggle,
manning the picket lines 24/7. They are determined to defeat both the
two- and three-tier systems and to secure wages and working conditions
acceptable to themselves.
Striking John Deere workers in Des Moines, IA, October 18, 2021
This article was published in
November 15, 2021 - No. 107
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/WF2021/Articles/WO081072.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
Picket line at John Deere plant in Denver, CO, October 22, 2021.
