Differences remain in Mack Trucks, UAW negotiations

Greensboro, North Carolina-based Mack Trucks says while it has reached tentative agreements with the United Auto Workers (UAW) for four local contracts, adds that union leadership’s economic demands at the master contract level continue to be "unrealistic."

In a late-October statement, Mack, whose products include trucks for the waste and recycling market, says negotiators representing Mack and the UAW were able to reach tentative agreements this week on the four local agreements that were not ratified by UAW members Oct. 8.

Mack says it stands by the economic terms of its Oct. 1 tentative agreement with the union, which it notes UAW leadership initially endorsed and called it a “record” contract for the heavy truck industry.

The terms of that tentative agreement call for an average wage increase over five years of 36 percent and premiums for the company’s health care coverage that would remain unchanged for five more years.

Regarding health care costs, Mack says those premiums have not increased in more than six years “despite a 66 percent increase in the company’s costs over the last decade.”

As of now, Mack says no additional discussions with the UAW have been scheduled at this time.