Biden Praises UAW and Daimler for Reaching Contract Agreement

President Biden reached a new labor agreement between the United Auto Workers (UAW) union and Daimler on Sunday, as the union continues a string of victories in hopes of expanding in the
South.

The union and the German truck maker reached a deal Saturday, averting a strike by about 7,000 workers at its North Carolina plant and distribution centers across the South.

“I applaud the UAW and Daimler for reaching a tentative agreement on a record deal,” Biden said in a statement. “UAW workers at Daimler are building the trucks and school buses of the future right here in America.”

“This agreement is a testament to the power of collective bargaining and shows that we can build a clean energy economy with strong union and middle-class jobs,” he added.

UAW President Shawn Fain said the new contract includes pay increases of more than 25% over the next four years, including a 10% increase upon ratification of the agreement. Fain said the deal also includes an end to salary levels at the company, as well as cost-of-living adjustments and “profit sharing for the first time in Daimler’s history.”

The Daimler deal comes amid a broad campaign by the UAW to organize Southern automakers after lucrative new contracts in a showdown with Detroit automakers. Last week, 73% of voters at a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, chose to join the UAW. It was the union’s first at a Southern assembly plant owned by a foreign automaker.

Workers at the Mercedes plants in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, will vote on UAW representation in May. However, the UAW’s efforts provoked resistance from Republican governors and business leaders in the South.

The Associated Press contributed.