John Deere strike imminent?

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VeloClone

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Jan 19, 2010
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It has always been known that if the pay is good, the job will get filled and I think that is playing a part of the worker shortage. And if the rebuttal is "well they can make the same by drawing unemployment", then the working wage needs to be high enough to get them off the couch. And this is not union driven, liberal dogma or any other political group think....it's just common sense.
Perhaps part of the problem is that unemployment since the start of COVID became open ended with no limit on the length of benefit along with a weekly cash bonus. I knew of a lot of people who would have to get off their couch and get a job in the past who were willing to make less money lying on it for a long time simply because they knew there was no sunset on their UE benefits.

I have also seen news stories about people who refused to take any of the plethora of jobs out there because they won't take any job they can't do entirely from home. Now they are crying because their unemployment money is finally running out and they think they should be subsidized indefinitely. This is only a part of the problem but federal spending at this level is unsustainable.

I hope someone - anyone - in Washington comes to their senses before it comes to a head and we truly have to pay the piper. When it does come to a head it will be UGLY. At this time neither major party seems the least bit interested in making tough choices and tackling the deficit at all. And that is just the deficit - not the debt. I am just talking about how much we are going further in debt, not about how we get out of debt.
 

NorthCyd

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Then don't use a kids excuse to avoid bettering your job situation.
I don't think the original post you responded to was using kids as an excuse or complaining about it in any way, just discussing why they made the choices they made. I understand you feel the need to validate your own life choices but that doesn't mean you have to go around telling people how terrible having kids is whenever they enter the conversation.
 

mramseyISU

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Nov 8, 2006
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Deere's management can either do this the hard way or the easy way.

Given today's labor market, Deere no choice but to make significant concessions to their workers. They can try to hold out as long as possible and hope the workers cave, but that's not gonna happen and they will lose an enormous amount of profits by stalling. The sooner management accepts this, the sooner they can make concessions and get back to making many millions per day in profits.
FWIW Deere's stock is up about $16 since this thing started so it doesn't really seem to be bothering investors too much yet. I haven't paid a lot of attention to how strikes typically impact stock prices but my guess is that this thing is going to be stay unresolved until either the rank and file cave or the stock price tanks.
 

CloniesForLife

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@CYEATHAWK

I'm pretty sure it's his wife's daughter from a previous relationship. Not sure how old she was when Curt met his wife but by his words I'm guessing she was a little older.
 
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BryceC

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A good start would be to go after ridiculous corporate compensation to leadership and redistribute to their workers on the floor.

They've actually done that before. The result? Health plans tied to employment.

They will find ways to compensate management.
 

BryceC

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Deere's management can either do this the hard way or the easy way.

Given today's labor market, Deere no choice but to make significant concessions to their workers. They can try to hold out as long as possible and hope the workers cave, but that's not gonna happen and they will lose an enormous amount of profits by stalling. The sooner management accepts this, the sooner they can make concessions and get back to making many millions per day in profits.

Honest question - what should Deere be doing here? They came to an agreement with union bosses that were shot down by the members.

The union bosses need to get on the same page as the members. and give them a real plan which would be approved.
 
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MeowingCows

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Honest question - what should Deere be doing here? They came to an agreement with union bosses that were shot down by the members.

The union bosses need to get on the same page as the members. and give them a real plan which would be approved.
Deere is waiting for the next agreement, that's it. Ultimately their role stays the same.
 

isufbcurt

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Apr 21, 2006
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@CYEATHAWK

I'm pretty sure it's his wife's daughter from a previous relationship. Not sure how old she was when Curt met his wife but by his words I'm guessing she was a little older.

She was 14. So I didn't have to deal with most of the kid stuff. But I do consider her my daughter and worry about her. For example she's leaving Monday to go live in Mexico City for a month for a modeling job, I'm going to worry about her but realistically it's not going to affect my day to day.
 
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BryceC

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Deere is waiting for the next agreement, that's it. Ultimately their role stays the same.

That's where I don't understand why they are being ridiculed by some people and media members. They came to an agreement with the union. The union members didn't agree to the agreement their leaders put out there for them to vote on. What is Deere supposed to do there? Reject the offere from the UAW and say no, that's not enough, we need to pay people more?
 

isufbcurt

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I don't think the original post you responded to was using kids as an excuse or complaining about it in any way, just discussing why they made the choices they made. I understand you feel the need to validate your own life choices but that doesn't mean you have to go around telling people how terrible having kids is whenever they enter the conversation.

I don't feel the need to validate my life choices, I'm perfectly happy with my situation.

I started off by saying in this labor market employees should be doing everything to better their own situation. Employees don't get labor markets like this very often and need to take advantage of them. Someone then replied they made their choice because of kids. It's MY opinion that's a cop out, if you are working because of your kids shouldn't that be a reason to better your situation and not an excuse to not do anything?

People can make whatever choices they want, I just felt the choice and reason presented was pretty weak. Then it turned into a whole big thing.
 

MeowingCows

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That's where I don't understand why they are being ridiculed by some people and media members. They came to an agreement with the union. The union members didn't agree to the agreement their leaders put out there for them to vote on. What is Deere supposed to do there? Reject the offere from the UAW and say no, that's not enough, we need to pay people more?
I mean, they could try to work with the union on identifying what the needs of the members are and crafting a new agreement in tandem around that. They could definitely help speed up the process.

And at the end of the day, it wasn't only the union who apparently made the members made -- Deere was happy to do the exact same thing.
 

mramseyISU

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Nov 8, 2006
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That's where I don't understand why they are being ridiculed by some people and media members. They came to an agreement with the union. The union members didn't agree to the agreement their leaders put out there for them to vote on. What is Deere supposed to do there? Reject the offere from the UAW and say no, that's not enough, we need to pay people more?
Now this is just my opinion but reading posts by the UAW members I know on social media I don't think it was going to matter what the leadership came back with they wanted a strike. They were out there screaming for like a 30% or 40% raise which seems pretty delusional in my opinion for anybody to expect for any job. Now are they really going to hold out for that big of a pay raise or not who knows. The other things that seem pretty unknown to me is how important getting rid of the two tiered system they have is and how hard are they going to fight for keeping a pension for new hires. If they're still on strike at the 1st of November they miss out on a massive bonus too so if they hold out that long why not hold out for a couple months at that point.
 
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1UNI2ISU

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The rank and file is just as pissed at the Union as they are at Deere.

This thing is going to on well past the first of the year because Deere still has some inventory and they aren't going to feel it for a while. Plus the Union has to get on the same page and the rank and file.
 
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jmax71

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Oct 21, 2006
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Technically that is not true. Minor issues that are both in the interest of the unit and management can be changed at any time through a letter of agreement (LOA) that is attached to the contract. They might even give something to get something so there can still be give and take at other times other than the expiration of a contract.

But yes, generally the big issues are only tackled when negotiations happen around the expiration of a contract.
Just replying from my history but in 45 years of working and involvement in this area with Deere I have no recollection of an LOA ever being renegotiated or voted on in the middle of an agreement. We do have what we call “letters” in the back of the book but they are letters or memorandums of understanding that are there to outline agreed to issues that aren’t written into contractual language.
 
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Clonehomer

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I mean, they could try to work with the union on identifying what the needs of the members are and crafting a new agreement in tandem around that. They could definitely help speed up the process.

And at the end of the day, it wasn't only the union who apparently made the members made -- Deere was happy to do the exact same thing.

That is literally the job of the union negotiating team. The fact they didn't do that is not on John Deere.
 
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AuH2O

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Sep 7, 2013
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I don't feel the need to validate my life choices, I'm perfectly happy with my situation.

I started off by saying in this labor market employees should be doing everything to better their own situation. Employees don't get labor markets like this very often and need to take advantage of them. Someone then replied they made their choice because of kids. It's MY opinion that's a cop out, if you are working because of your kids shouldn't that be a reason to better your situation and not an excuse to not do anything?

People can make whatever choices they want, I just felt the choice and reason presented was pretty weak. Then it turned into a whole big thing.
I think people should be taking advantage of this labor market. That doesn't have to mean uprooting the family and moving because of a job to make more money. I know personally it would take more money than I'd realistically be offered to do that.

But this labor market offers more opportunities than just switching jobs for more money. You can negotiate for more pay, fewer hours, more remote work, flexible work hours, you name it.
 

BryceC

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I mean, they could try to work with the union on identifying what the needs of the members are and crafting a new agreement in tandem around that. They could definitely help speed up the process.

And at the end of the day, it wasn't only the union who apparently made the members made -- Deere was happy to do the exact same thing.

No offense but how could they possibly do that and cut out the leadership that negotiated the other agreement? I think the union would have huge, huge problems with that.

The whole point of the union is that it negotiates with the company as a united front. If they can't get on the same page I'm not sure what role the company even could have in fixing that.
 

isufbcurt

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I think people should be taking advantage of this labor market. That doesn't have to mean uprooting the family and moving because of a job to make more money. I know personally it would take more money than I'd realistically be offered to do that.

But this labor market offers more opportunities than just switching jobs for more money. You can negotiate for more pay, fewer hours, more remote work, flexible work hours, you name it.

I agree. Ultimately my response was to the white collar people at Deere being used in a blue collar capacity and saying they need to use the market to their advantage. Whether that'd be looking for a new job, asking for pay raises or telling management they aren't doing blue collar work.
 

Sousaclone

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I mean, they could try to work with the union on identifying what the needs of the members are and crafting a new agreement in tandem around that. They could definitely help speed up the process.

And at the end of the day, it wasn't only the union who apparently made the members made -- Deere was happy to do the exact same thing.

That's the Union leaderships job. Otherwise they should just get rid of the Union and make it open shop.
 
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