The UAW represents 10,000 Deere manufacturing employees in three states including five facilities in Iowa.
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This comes after a midnight deadline to replace the six-year contract that expired Wednesday.
Deere Delaware, +0.52% the world’s largest seller of farm tractors and harvesting combines, didn’t release details of the agreement.
12 Deere facilities were covered by the six-year agreement that expired at the end of September, according to John Deere spokesman Ken Golden.
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The Moline-based manufacturer and UAW leadership have agreed to not make public comments on contract issues during negotiations. The union is expected to schedule a ratification vote for Sunday. “So workers are now saying: ‘It’s time for us to get our share.’ But Deere management likely feels the climate going forward is going to be much more hard”. The company has responded by laying off about 1,500 workers in Iowa and Illinois since a year ago. As a result, Deere has laid off hundreds of employees at its Midwest plants.
