Mack Truck, UAW reach tentative agreement over 2,500 workers

<p>Mack Truck employees represented by the United Auto Workers approved a three-year contract that covers about 2,500 workers in three states, the company announced Sunday night.</p><p>The contract, which expires Oct. 1, 2007, affects members of UAW locals in Allentown, Macungie and Middletown, Pa.; Baltimore and Hagerstown, Md.; and Atlanta. Workers had authorized a strike, but the agreement was reached just after a contract deadline earlier this month.</p><p>The union was most concerned about health care costs and the outsourcing of jobs, said Dave Perkins, president of UAW Local 171, which represents some workers in Hagerstown.</p><p>"I think it (the agreement) gives us a chance to move ahead and try to grow jobs, especially at the Hagerstown facility," Perkins said.</p><p>Production workers at the company, a unit of AB Volvo of Sweden, make about $23 per hour. Mack has not had a strike since 1984.</p><p>___</p><p>On the Net:</p><p>HASH(0x286578c)</p>