A Strike Looms in a Battleground State
More than 7,000 workers who make trucks and buses at Daimler Truck plants in North Carolina are poised to go on strike at midnight, barring a last-minute breakthrough. The United Automobile Workers, the union that represents the workers, said it was demanding a “historic deal” from the truck maker, including pay raises and more job security.
The planned walkout would open another front in the U.A.W.’s campaign to expand its power in Southern states, where organized labor has long been weak. The union is hoping it can build on the success of its work stoppages last fall at the three largest U.S. automakers not just by securing higher wages elsewhere, but also by forming more unions in the South.
“It’s our generation-defining moment,” Shawn Fain, U.A.W.’s president, said.
A strike in North Carolina — a battleground state that has a Democratic governor, but that President Biden narrowly lost in 2020 — could also have repercussions on the 2024 campaign. Biden, who has proclaimed himself the “most pro-union president in history,” has indicated that he could step in aggressively to support the Daimler workers. That could find him clashing with the state’s more pro-business Democrats, just months before Election Day.
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