The UAW has reached a historic tentative agreement with Daimler Truck ahead of the contract’s expiration at midnight on Friday, April 26, after mounting a massive campaign and strike threat against the multibillion-dollar manufacturer.  

The four-year agreement delivers major economic gains for 7,300 workers, including raises of more than 25%, the end of wage tiers, and the introduction profit-sharing and Cost-of-Living (COLA) for the first time since Daimler workers first organized with the UAW. The deal delivers on the union’s pledge that record profits mean record contracts. 

In a direct address to membership, UAW President Shawn Fain outlined the top lines of the deals, and reflected on the historic nature of the fight for justice at Daimler Truck. 

To view President Fain’s remarks in full, head to UAW’s Facebook page, and read Fain’s prepared remarks below. The media is invited to use these materials. 

Tomorrow, President Fain and UAW Daimler members will hold a victory rally at 12pm, at UAW Local 3520 in Statesville, NC. To attend, RSVP to team@feldmanstrategies.com. 

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UAW President Shawn Fain Prepared Remarks on Daimler Truck Negotiations, April 26, 2024 

Good evening, UAW family!  

Tonight, I’m in Charlotte, North Carolina, and I am honored to be joined by the badass bargaining committee representing over 7,000 members at Daimler Truck North America.  

We’re here tonight to announce a major victory for the members who build Freightliner and Western Star trucks and Thomas Built buses.  

Today, we reached a tentative agreement with Daimler.  

What started thirty-two years ago this month at the Mt. Holly plant, when the courageous 17-day strikers stood up and won a historic, first of its kind agreement, has come full circle.   

For months, we said that record profits should mean a record contract. And, UAW family, our determination and solidarity has delivered.  

We said: It shouldn’t matter if you build a heavy truck or a bus for Daimler, you should get paid the same for the same work. And we won equal pay for equal work, ending wage tiers at Daimler.  

ALL Daimler workers will receive a MINIMUM of a 25% general wage increase over the next four years.

When this deal is ratified, you’ll get a 10% raise. Six months later, another 3%. Six months after that, another 3%. That’s a 16% raise in the first year of the deal, alone.   

But that’s just the starting point.  

Because we killed wage tiers at Daimler Truck, many members’ lives will change dramatically upon ratification.  

And by the end of this contract, workers who make trucks and workers who make buses will get equal pay for equal work. 

Our lowest paid workers at Thomas Built Bus will see raises of over $8 an hour. Some TBB skilled trades members will get an over $17 an hour raise. That’s an over 60% raise.  

We said we needed protection against inflation, so workers aren’t left behind. And we won COLA — cost-of-living for the first time in Daimler history.

We said the company doesn’t get to keep all the profits while the workers who build the product get crumbs. So we won profit-sharing for the first time in Daimler history, to get our share of that so-called “leftover money” from their “red hot” profits.  

We said the company shouldn’t be able to ship work overseas on a whim. And we won increased job security and increased the “build rates.” This guarantees a certain minimum number of vehicles will be built at each plant, so workers can know their work will be there tomorrow.  

And we won major improvements to health and safety at Daimler.  

All told, this deal is worth dramatically more than any past Daimler contract.  

So when we say record profits mean record contracts, we mean it.  

When we kicked off negotiations three weeks ago, we knew time was of the essence. We told the company: tick tock. Members were going to need to turn up the heat to get Daimler to move.  

 UAW family – you got LOUD.   

You held practice pickets, hundreds of members strong.  

You wrote your own slogans and songs — “mother trucker” was my favorite —  

I saw the Tick Tock signs, t-shirts, videos.  

All in service of one goal: making sure everyone knows that we are a united membership, ready to fight, and ready to win what we deserve.  

Tonight, it’s clear the company, and the world, heard your message:  

WE build the product.  

WE make the profits.  

WE deserve a deal that reflects our hard work.  

But you did more than just that.  

With this agreement, you said: a rising tide needs to lift every single boat. No one gets left behind.   

UAW Family, that is solidarity at its best. We win more when we stick together.    

They tried to stonewall us. But – we kept our eye on the clock. And when that deadline came closer, the company was suddenly ready to talk.  

 So tonight, we celebrate.   

Tomorrow we’ll join our UAW Daimler family at Local 3520 for a victory rally where we’ll lay out some of the details of what we won.  

And in the coming days and weeks we will hold local roll-out meetings so you can hear everything we won in this deal.  

As always, the members are the highest authority in our union, and the 7,000 UAW Daimler members will decide what happens next.  

And to the rest of our union, and workers across the South, stay ready to Stand Up and keep winning big.  

Thank you.