UAW, John Deere announce tentative six-year labor agreement, subject to worker vote

[Auggie]

The United Auto Workers and Deere & Co. have reached a new, tentative six-year-collective bargaining agreement, the two sides announced Friday afternoon.

The union, which represents thousands of workers in Deere's Iowa facilities, including its Ankeny plant, offered no details about the agreement in a news release, saying only that the deal includes "significant economic gains." It and Deere began negotiating in August, as the company celebrated record profits while still struggling to hire enough workers to meet booming demand.

The union will present the terms of the new contract to members by Oct. 10. It is subject to a vote by the workers. UAW Local 450 in Des Moines, which represents the Ankeny workers, said it will hold its vote at 10 a.m. Oct. 10 at Saydel High School.

The previous six-year contract expired at midnight Thursday. Early Friday, minutes after the deadline, UAW locals began posting on their Facebook pages that the union and the company had agreed to temporarily extend the previous contract as they continued hammering out a new deal.

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/money/business/2021/10/01/john-deere-strike-avoided-uaw-union-agree-extend-labor-contract-negotiations-continue/5943017001/

From the link (FYI):

• Under the just-expired contract, minimum starting wages at Deere range from $19.14 to $30.04 an hour, based on experience.

• Deere celebrated its most profitable year ever, reporting $4.7 billion in net income for the first nine months of the fiscal year.

• At the same time the company was reaping record profits, it reported struggling to hire enough workers this spring.

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Record profits and an employee shortage. The UAW is in a good position, I'd say.

[Klaralven]

1. AEM, John Deere Respond to Biden's Planned Executive Order Over Right to Repair Equipment

After more than a decade of legislative proposals, the Biden Administration is preparing plans to allow equipment owners to have the right to repair their own equipment.

First reported by Reuters Tuesday, President Joe Biden is expected to sign an executive order in the coming days to encourage the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to limit the ability of farm equipment manufacturers to restrict tractor owners from using independent repair shops or completing some of the work themselves.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki responding to the report on Tuesday, saying the effort would help farmers "fight back against abuses of power by giant agribusiness corporations and give farmers the right to repair their own equipment how they like."

Farm Journal reached out to the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM), as well as John Deere, regarding the planned executive order. Both AEM and John Deere couldn't comment on the reported executive order without confirming details first, but did provide the following statements.

https://www.agweb.com/news/policy/politics/aem-john-deere-respond-bidens-planned-executive-order-over-right-repair