(CN) — Over 10,000 unionized John Deere workers headed back to the shop floors on Thursday after ratifying a new contract with the company late Wednesday night. The workers, members of the United Auto Workers Union, had been on strike since Oct. 14 - the first major labor action by John Deere employees since 1986.
The new contract, approved by 61% of the affected UAW members, guarantees much of what the workers demanded from the company when the strike began. It includes an immediate 10% raise for all unionized workers, 5% pay raises with inflation adjustment in 2023 and 2025, and improved pension benefits for employees hired after 1997.
Under the workers' prior contract, "post-97" workers, who make up the bulk of John Deere's current workforce, enjoyed significantly fewer pension benefits than pre-97 hires and few post-retirement health benefits. The newly-ratified contract allows post-97 workers to opt in to a post-retirement healthcare 401(K) fund.
John Deere CEO John May praised the new agreement in a statement.
“John Deere’s success depends on the success of our people,” he said. “We’re giving employees the opportunity to earn wages and benefits that are the best in our industries and are groundbreaking in many ways.”
Despite May's statement that the company "gave" its employees the improved benefits, UAW leaders framed the strike's success not as the result of corporate magnanimity, but of dedicated labor struggle.
“UAW John Deere members did not just unite themselves, they seemed to unite the nation in a struggle for fairness in the workplace. We could not be more proud of these UAW members and their families,” UAW President John Curry said in a statement.
The John Deere strike gained national attention throughout its 35-day run, embodying what the AFL-CIO dubbed last month as "Striketober." Occurring soon after a strike by workers at Nabisco – alongside strikes by Columbia University student workers and food workers nationwide, and a strike threat by the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees – "Striketober" represents a rise in labor militancy amid a U.S. economy defined by stagnant wages, rapid inflation, and increasing corporate profits. John Deere itself reported record profits in 2020, raking in over $1.79 billion in net income the second fiscal quarter alone. May took home $15.6 million in 2020 himself.
“The sacrifice and solidarity displayed by our John Deere members combined with the determination of their negotiators made this accomplishment possible," UAW Vice President Chuck Browning said in a statement. "They have started a movement for workers in this country by what was achieved here today and they have earned the admiration and respect of all that strive for what is just and equitable in the workplace.”
While UAW officials restricted themselves to measured diplomatic statements, rank-and-file union members and their sympathizers took to social media Thursday to express their enthusiasm for the new contract in less diplomatic ways.
"Knock out punch to all CEO’s screwing over their workers," UAW sympathizer William Ortiz said in a tweet responding to news of the strike ending. "They would not be where they are without their front line (lowest level) employees. Remember that!"
Despite the enthusiasm, however, not all UAW John Deere workers were happy with the approved contract.
Brian Rothenberg, UAW International's director of public relations, pointed out that the ratified contract was effectively the same as the second contract the company offered the union - and union members rejected - earlier in November. The only difference is a slight modification of the workers' Continuous Improvement Pay Plan, or CIPP, that rewards employees for exceeding productivity goals. The CIPP is unpopular with some John Deere employees, as not all of them are enrolled with the plan. Non-CIPP workers generally make several dollars more per hour than those who are enrolled, and under the latest contract, Rothenberg said the productivity bonuses were only adjusted from 115% of normal hourly pay to 120%.
Labor historian Toni Gilpin, exploring the history of incentive pay in a Wednesday Twitter thread, also pointed out that CIPP benefits can be exploitative - they can push workers to meet unrealistic productivity goals, for rewards that can be revoked at the company's discretion.
"Incentive pay, central to the contract Deere strikers vote on today, is an especially pernicious method of exploitation that has long characterized the ag-imp industry... workers doing the same jobs may receive entirely different pay rates. Their pay rates can also be 'adjusted' (downward) during the life of the contract to account for what the company purports to be changes in a job, but in reality means something like moving a machine a few feet or turning it around," Gilpin wrote.
The strike itself was also not without its setbacks. One worker at the John Deere Parts Distribution Center in Milan, Illinois, 56-year-old Richard Rich, was struck by a car and killed while walking to his shift on the picket line on the early morning of Oct. 27. Rich had to cross the four-lane Rock Island-Milan Parkway in order to reach the picket from his car, a dangerous pre-dawn walk made more dangerous by a series of broken streetlights running the length of the road. Workers at the plant claimed the lights had been broken for weeks prior to Rich's death.
"The city has 3-4 lights out that have been out since we started. Very unsafe. Shame on Milan and Deere should be very embarrassed," Cory Aguilar, a striking employee at the Parts Distribution Center, said in a Oct. 27 tweet.
In calls with Courthouse News, the city of Milan, Rock Island County, the Illinois Department of Transportation and local power company MidAmerican Energy all denied responsibility for maintaining the lights, each pointing a finger at one of the others. Only after Rich's death, according to reporter Jonah Furman of Labor Notes, was a labor crew dispatched to fix the lights.
With the strike ended - twinged with death and with not all affected workers happy with it - some Deere employees said Thursday that they are already preparing themselves to fight for better conditions in six years, when Wednesday's contract expires.
"Is it perfect no… but in 6 years we’ll be ready to fight the fight again!" said Kody Klein, an employee at the John Deere warehouse in Dubuque, Iowa. "Just gotta live to fight another day! Proud of my brothers and sisters for taking a stand and pushing back against this company."
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