On the eve of their contract expiring, the United Auto Workers and Daimler Truck agreed to terms for a four-year contract that will see a 25% wage increase for 7,000 workers at the North Carolina truck and bus factory, ABC News reports. The union also negotiated a profit-sharing plan for the first time in the company’s history.
The agreement highlights a push by the UAW at vehicle factories throughout the South, where foreign automotive companies were lured to build factories there by promises of “right to work” states to have low labor costs. It follows the vote to unionize the workforce at a Volkswagen plant in Tennessee last week.