Racine Sun

More than 1,000 United Auto Workers union employees in Wisconsin and Iowa are now on strike after contract talks stalled.

Fox6Now.com reports that the work stoppages are at two CNH industrial plants at the company that makes agriculture and construction equipment.

“Our members at CNHi strike for the ability to earn a decent living, retire with dignity and establish fair work rules," said Chuck Browning, vice president and director of the union's Agricultural Implement Department.

The action continues a pattern of strikes that have taken place over the last year, including a high-profile month-long work stoppage at Deere & Co. that resulted in 10% raises and improved benefits for 10,000 UAW workers at that equipment maker.

In a statement, the United Kingdom based company, which counts more than 37,000 workers at CNH Industrial, expressed disappointment.

“We recognize the union’s decision creates high anxiety among our represented employees in Burlington and Racine, as well as our other employees, our customers, and our community," said CNH Industrial, which plans to release its first-quarter earnings report in the coming days.

Workers have been adamant in arguing that they deserve more after keeping plants operating throughout the COVID-19 crisis.

Unions have also been emboldened to do what they view as needed to advance their cause because they believe the ongoing worker shortages put them in a position of power.

In addition to the Deere strike last fall, workers at a Volvo Trucks plant in Virginia went on strike and won improved pay and health benefits after rejecting three tentative agreements with the company. There have also been strikes at Kellogg's cereal plants across the country, a Frito-Lay plant in Topeka, Kansas and at five Nabisco plants nationwide. As their latest contracts have come up, meatpacking workers, who were hit hard by the spread of the pandemic, have also been winning significant raises for themselves at plants across the country.

In New York, workers at an Amazon warehouse also recently voted to unionize, as have staffers at more than two dozen Starbucks stores across the country.