Some US Caterpillar workers plan possible strike once contract expires

Feb 28 (Reuters) – Union employees at 4 Caterpillar Inc (CAT.N) U.S. services have threatened to strike for wage will increase, improved security measures and higher healthcare advantages as soon as a six-year labor contract expires this week.

The contract, which covers roughly 7,000 union workers represented by the United Auto Staff at three manufacturing vegetation in central Illinois and a elements and distribution heart in York, Pennsylvania, will finish on March 1.

Unionized employees on the world’s largest building and mining tools producer are pushing for a reversal of elements of prior contracts that they consider have stagnated wages, in accordance with an announcement launched by a rank and file committee fashioned by Caterpillar employees.

“We have been shedding each contract for many years – the 2017 contract was nowhere close to what we would have liked,” the assertion learn.

A rise in strike exercise at U.S.-based firms over the previous two years has emboldened labor unions’ bargaining efforts to make sure cost-of-living changes maintain tempo with inflation that has pushed up costs for primary requirements. A latest report from Cornell College that tracks work stoppages discovered that labor strikes had been up 52% in 2022 from the yr prior.

“I believe it is a interval the place unions and employees can reap the benefits of the present labor market circumstances to attempt to get again a few of what they misplaced,” mentioned Todd Vachon, an assistant professor of labor research and employment relations at Rutgers College.

In January, union employees on the 4 Caterpillar services voted virtually unanimously to authorize a strike, in accordance with one native union’s Fb web page. It was not clear what number of employees voted in favor. The corporate has greater than 100,000 workers worldwide.

Caterpillar didn’t reply to a request for remark. Nonetheless, the Irving, Texas-based firm mentioned on its web site that it’ll “proceed to function our services” with administration and contract employees.

Heavy equipment firms like Caterpillar and rival Deere & Co (DE.N) ramped up manufacturing to capitalize on rising demand from farmers and mining prospects throughout a interval of hovering grain and vitality costs final yr. A brief provide of employees, consultants mentioned, has given unions bargaining energy to barter higher contracts.

Reporting by Bianca Flowers in Chicago
Modifying by Matthew Lewis

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