Lt. Gov Austin Davis visits UAW picket line at Mack Trucks Middletown plant

Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. Austin Davis on Wednesday visited a United Auto Workers’ picket line outside a Mack Trucks facility in Middletown, where workers walked off the job Oct. 9. Seventy-three percent of the 4,000 UAW members who work for Mack Trucks voted to reject the company’s contract proposal, in a strike that is affecting the company’s facilities in three states. 

The workers are seeking, among other things, for their cost of living increases to be reinstated, better wages, and job security. 

Striking Mack Trucks workers in Pennsylvania: ‘We deserve our fair share, too.’

“As the son of a union bus driver, I will always show support and solidarity for working Pennsylvanians who are fighting for a family-sustaining income, better health benefits and dignity in the workplace,” Davis said in a statement. “That’s why I was proud to stand with the workers of UAW Local 677 at Mack Trucks in Middletown today. It isn’t the CEOs who build these companies and make them profitable; it’s the workers. The workers have power, and it’s inspiring to see them use that power.”

Including the Mack workers, the UAW has more than 30,000 workers on strike in nearly two dozen states. That number includes workers at several locations of Detroit automakers Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, who went on strike Sept. 15.

On Oct. 10, U.S. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) and U.S. Rep. Susan Wild (D-7th District) visited the UAW Local 677 picket line in Macungie, where Mack’s 1-million square foot plant has three cab and two chassis assembly lines, a truck modification center, and about 2,300 workers. 

Industry publication Freightwaves reports that the two sides are planning to meet at the bargaining table on Oct. 19.