Highlights from the tentative agreement with the UAW
Working toward a favorable outcome for our workers and our communities
With news that the UAW has called a strike against Deere & Company affecting more than 10,000 workers at 14 facilities across the United States, John Deere remains committed to working toward a favorable outcome for our workers and our communities. Specifically, we want to reach an agreement with the UAW that would put every employee in a better economic position.
The tentative agreement reached after weeks of negotiations honors our commitment to work with our employees to provide them with economic progress and a rewarding career. Some highlights:
- While every employee's career is unique, the typical production employee's annual wages all-in would increase from $60,000 today under the terms of the current contract to nearly $72,000 by the end of the tentative agreement. This is the equivalent of an hourly increase from about $33 per hour to nearly $40. (See "Making the Best Wages Better" on one.deere.com.)
- We also know that our employees' careers cannot be measured by their wages alone. Benefits like healthcare are vitally important and valuable to them. Through our negotiations, we agreed that our production and maintenance employees would retain precisely the same industry-leading healthcare benefits. They will continue to have $0 in deductibles, $0 in premiums, and $0 in co-insurance over the life of the contract. Their co-payments will not change one penny.
- While healthcare costs are expected to rise from $12 to $17 per hour for John Deere over the contract term, employee healthcare costs will not go up. (See "Best Healthcare Coverage with Protection Against Rising Costs" on one.deere.com.)
- Further, we are providing access to healthcare to our newest production and maintenance employees earlier in their careers. Previously, new employees would gain eligibility to healthcare after a 7-month probationary period. Under the tentative agreement, John Deere accelerated healthcare eligibility to as soon as 30 days after employment.
- Lastly, we wish to invest in the livelihoods of our employees so that they can have a dignified retirement. One way we do this through the tentative agreement is by providing an entirely new retirement bonus and cash balance pension benefit. The typical employee would receive these new lump sum payments totaling nearly $134,000 at the end of a full career. (See "The +'s of Your Retirement" on one.deere.com.)
The wages and benefits highlighted above are a significant step toward providing economic progress for our employees. We remain committed to hearing our employees' priorities and continuing talks until the strike is resolved, while also keeping our operations running to support everyone who depends on us.
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For further information, the news media should contact:
Jen Hartmann
Director, Public Relations
HartmannJenniferA@JohnDeere.com