Thousands of Mack Trucks Inc. employees in three states are currently on strike for “fair pay and benefits.”
The strike began at 11:59 p.m on Saturday at six Mack Trucks plants in Florida, Maryland and Pennsylvania, the Detroit Free Press reports. More than 3600 employees throughout those three states are participating in the strike.
According to the United Automobile Workers (UAW), the workers are striking to resolve a number of employment issues, including wage increases, job security, COLA, wage progression, skilled trades, shift premium, holiday schedules, work schedules, health and safety, seniority, pension, 401(k), healthcare and prescription drug coverage, overtime, subcontracting, and temporary/supplemental workers.
“The last four years we have helped Mack Truck make significant profit through our work,” said Doug Irvine, President of Local 2301 and President of the Mack Truck Council. “All we are asking is that the company treat us with the dignity and respect we deserve in making them successful.”
Mack Trucks issued a statement on the strike, noting that they are “surprised and disappointed that the UAW decided to strike, rather than to allow our employees to keep building trucks and engines while the parties continued to negotiate. The positive working relationship between local UAW leadership and management at our facilities was clearly in evidence throughout the negotiations, and progress was being made.”
Mack Trucks is a subsidiary of Swedish-owned Volvo.
The Mack Trucks strike comes as more than 46,000 United Auto Workers continue a nationwide General Motors Strike that began September 16. Shortly after the strike began, UAW members accused a truck driver of hitting multiple people at a picket line in Michigan.
This is the first time that Mack trucks workers have gone on strike since 1984, when more than 9000 workers went on strike for 9 days.