Deere, UAW Work to Complete Pact to End 5-Month Strike

Deere & Co. and the United Auto Workers worked Wednesday to finalize the terms of a contract they had tentatively agreed to the day before to end a five-month work stoppage by nearly 13,000 workers.

“If everything falls into place, we could have membership meetings and a ratification vote this weekend” on the three-year pact with the farm implement manufacturer, UAW spokesman Karl Mantyla said.

Ten-thousand laid-off union members are eligible to vote on the proposed contract, in addition to the nearly 13,000 union members idled at 13 Deere plants in Illinois and Iowa since Aug. 23.

Neither side would disclose details of the proposed settlement, and neither side has detailed the reasons for the dispute. Both sides had said they were working for job-security and other provisions.

In addition to production and maintenance workers in the Iowa and Illinois plants, the union pact would cover parts-warehouse workers in Colorado, Georgia, Minnesota and Tennessee.