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Deere Workers Reject Latest Contract Offer

WVIK, Quad Cities NPR | By Herb Trix

Published November 3, 2021 at 9:59 AM CDT

striking Deere workers outside the Cylinder Works in Moline on Tuesday

Union workers at John Deere have rejected a second contract offer from the company, by a 55 to 45 per cent margin.

The offer included raises that were twice the size of those included in the first tentative contract that was rejected by 90 per cent of workers. And it would have kept a pension option for new employees and maintained the workers' no-premium health insurance coverage.

Union locals in Illinois and Iowa were split on the latest offer, with "no" votes in Waterloo, Dubuque, East Moline, and Milan. But "yes" votes in Davenport, Ottumwa, and Des Moines.

Results from Moline were not available.

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Herb Trix

A native of Detroit, Herb Trix began his radio career as a country-western disc jockey in Roswell, New Mexico (“KRSY, your superkicker in the Pecos Valley”), in 1978. After a stint at an oldies station in Topeka, Kansas (imagine getting paid to play “Louie Louie” and “Great Balls of Fire”), he wormed his way into news, first in Topeka, and then in Freeport Illinois.

See stories by Herb Trix