UAW workers to vote on a third deal with Deere

Deere & Co. and the International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America have reached their third tentative agreement, according to a release Friday from Brian Rothenberg, an UAW spokesman.

“John Deere and Company has made a last, best and final offer to the UAW negotiating team that includes modest modifications to the last tentative agreement presented for ratification on November 2,” Rothenberg said. “As a result, the UAW will present the company’s offer for ratification and, as has been the case throughout the bargaining process, will support the outcome as determined by our members.”

The ratification vote will be held Nov. 17, according to a worker.

Officials at the Moline-based Deere did not immediately respond Friday night to a request for comment.

Earlier this month, Deere workers at facilities in Illinois, Iowa and Kansas rejected a second tentative agreement that offered 10 percent raises this year and 5 percent raises in each of the following two years, plus bonuses. When about 55 percent of the striking workers voted down that offer, Deer used similar language at the time that it represented the company’s final offer — raising concerns that an impasse might be declared.

Deere and the UAW also have agreed to a Nov. 19 hearing about an injunction that limited behavior on picket lines, according to court documents. The Scott County UAW filed a motion requesting the hearing be moved from a remote format to an in-person format.

Deere officials did not have immediate comment on the matter.

The injunction filed Oct. 20 limited how union members could conduct themselves on the picket lines at Deere's Davenport Works. Chief Judge Marlita Greve ordered the UAW to have no more than four picketers "near" each gate of Davenport Works, banned the use of chairs and barrel fires by picketers and prohibited harassment and intimidation tactics that at least five trucking companies said they had encountered.

Labor law experts who reviewed the Deere injunction said the ban on chairs and fire barrels is unusual and they believed the injunction lacked sufficient evidence to prove their role in impacting the ingress and egress at the Davenport plant. Five days later, the UAW filed to have the injunction vacated.