Workers at Mack Trucks, including the plant in Lower Macungie, have been on strike since October 8. These strikes were expected to be prevented when a tentative agreement was reached between the company and the United Auto Workers Union. The union, however, declined the agreement and continued their original plans to strike.
Now, a new press release from Mack Trucks describes the ongoing struggle for the two parties to reach an agreement. The statement doesn’t make the negotiations sound too promising, either.
Mack Trucks claims that the union’s “economic demands at the master contract level continue to be unrealistic.”
The company called the union’s new demands unrealistic earlier this week as well, although not in an official statement. Lehigh Valley Live reported that while they’re willing to promise workers higher wages, as proven by their agreement to do so in the failed tentative agreement, they are “not prepared to jeopardize the company.”
They continue to stand by the terms of the proposed deal, noting that the union had referred to it as a “record contract for the heavy truck industry” before striking it down.
In the tentative agreement, the parties agreed on an average wage increase of 36% over five years, with an immediate increase of around 15%. The agreement would have also kept premiums for healthcare coverage at the same rate for another five years.
The United Auto Workers Union explained after denying the tentative agreement that they were looking for an agreement fair to and agreed upon by all workers.
No further negotiations between the company and union have taken place at this time.
