UAW Workers Ratify New Six-Year Deere Contract

Hundreds of unionized John Deere employees in the Cedar Valley are officially working under a new six-year contract today (Monday, Oct. 5, 2015).

On Sunday, Deere and Company confirmed it had been notified that the United Auto Workers union rank and file ratified the tentative labor deal reached last week. The agreement covers hundreds of John Deere workers at multiple facilities in Iowa, including four in Waterloo and one in Cedar Falls.

Hundreds of local workers gathered to vote on the new master contract at the McLeod Center on the University of Northern Iowa campus in Cedar Falls.

In all, the UAW represents approximately 10,000 Deere manufacturing employees at 12 factories in Iowa, Illinois and Kansas. In addition to Waterloo and Cedar Falls, the master agreement also covers workers at other Iowa John Deere plants in Davenport, Ankeny, Dubuque and Ottumwa, as well as employees at other facilities in East Moline, Moline and Milan, Illinois; and Coffeyville, Kansas.

"Terms of the agreement will not be made public," Deere spokesman Ken Golden said in a news release on Sunday.