Deere Workers Reject New Contract

So, the strike continues, and management at is threatening to walk away from the table, claiming that this was their, "Last, best offer."

After decades of pay cuts, a two tier system, and a bonus system that is notorious for cheating their factory floor workers, one gets the sense that said workers don't trust the company.

I also think that they do not trust the UAW management to act in their best interest, which would not be surprising, since senior union management has been convicted, "Breaking federal labor laws, stealing union funds and receiving bribes, kickbacks and illegal benefits from contractors and auto executives,"  so they have not been particularly credulous that the union negotiators have been acting in their best interests:

Members of the United Auto Workers union rejected a deal with Deere & Co., extending a nearly three-week-long strike and illustrating the growing willingness of U.S. workers to hold out for better terms.

The second rejected deal offered substantial improvements over one that workers turned down before going on strike, and included larger wage increases, no new tiers to retirement benefits and a signing bonus of $8,500. Shares of Moline, Illinois-based Deere were down 5% at 1:16 p.m. in New York on Tuesday.………

Some 10,000 Deere employees -- about 14% of its global workforce -- went on strike on Oct. 14 for the first time since 1986, having rejected a prior deal that called for a 5% to 6% wage increase for the first year. The world’s biggest farm equipment maker has kept its factories running, using salaried employees. The company said the focus has been operating parts depots and its parts distribution center to ensure farmers can complete their harvest season.

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“By a vote of 45% yes to 55% no, UAW John Deere members voted down the agreement this evening,” the union said in a statement late Tuesday. “The strike against John Deere and Company will continue as we discuss next steps with the company.”

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The company’s existing “two-tier” compensation system, in which workers hired since 1997 receive less generous benefits than those who started working there earlier, has been a sticking point for many employees, and would not have been abolished by the tentative agreement.

These days management promising that they would f%$# their employees a little bit less is not going to cut it.

American managers have spent the last 4 decades sucking the marrow out of employee goodwill, so it is no surprise that their employees are playing hardball now that they can.