UAW members ratify labor deal with Mack Trucks

(Reuters) -The United Auto Workers (UAW) union said on Wednesday that about 3,900 of its members working at Mack Trucks ratified a new five-year contract, ending a month-long strike at the Volvo Group-owned company.

The move comes after union workers overwhelmingly rejected a tentative deal in October that included a 19% pay raise and a $3,500 ratification bonus, complaining that the raise was too small to keep up with inflation.

Mack Trucks said that under the new contract, the average wage increase over five years would be 36%, with an average immediate raise for all covered employees of nearly 15%.

For employees not yet at the top rate, which represents nearly half the total workforce, the average pay hike over five years would be 55%, with an average immediate wage increase of more than 20%, the company said in an emailed statement on Thursday.

"After 39 days on strike, UAW members at Mack Trucks have voted by 93% to ratify their new contract with significant local improvements," the union said in a post on messaging platform X, previously known as Twitter.

Mack Trucks said the new contract covered its employees at facilities in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Florida.

The deal comes as the UAW is in the midst of labor ratification votes at Detroit's Big Three automakers, where workers went on strike for more than six weeks seeking better wages, working conditions and cost-of-living adjustments.

General Motors' tentative labor deal with the union closed in on ratification as the votes were counted on Wednesday. Voting at Ford and Stellantis is still underway, and workers at both companies were favoring ratification by comfortable margins.

Mack Trucks, which was bought by Volvo in 2000, is one of North America's largest makers of medium-duty and heavy-duty trucks.

(Reporting by Maria Ponnezhath, Shubham Kalia, and Mrinmay Dey in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Gokul Pisharody and Baranjot Kaur; Editing by Varun H K and Anil D'Silva)