UAW rips 'corporate greed' of John Deere as mass layoffs follow $43B in stock buybacks

The United Auto Workers on Tuesday condemned the manufacturing company John Deere over recent mass layoffs at factories in Iowa and Illinois, arguing the company's strong profits, lavish handouts to investors, and exorbitant CEO pay give the lie to claims that the job cuts and outsourcing were necessary.

"John Deere's reckless layoffs and job cuts are an insult to the working-class people of Iowa and Illinois, and the United Auto Workers will fight for justice for our members and communities affected by these moves," the union said in a statement. "Let's be clear: there is no need for Deere to kill good American jobs and outsource them to Mexico for cheap labor. The company is forecasted to make $7 billion in profit this year. CEO John May's total compensation for 2023 was $26.8 million."

The union went on to note that John Deere, which is headquartered in Illinois, has spent more than $43 billion on investor-enriching stock buybacks and dividends over the past 20 years, leaving "no question that there is enough profit to go around" and that the company "can afford to keep good jobs in Iowa and Illinois."

"So why are they choosing not to? Because Deere's corporate greed means more to them than the lives of working-class people in Ankeny, Waterloo, Ottumwa, or Dubuque. And our government lets them get away with it, with broken trade laws that don't protect workers on either side of the border," the union said. "When a company is doing as well as Deere, on the hard work of those UAW members who make the product that generates those profits, there is absolutely no reason for job cuts, layoffs, outsourcing, or cutbacks."

The UAW represents more than 10,000 John Deere employees across the United States and, in 2021, held a five-week strike against the company over inadequate wages and benefits.

In recent weeks, John Deere has laid off an estimated 1,500 U.S. workers as part of what the company has described as a broader effort to "control costs." The Guardian's Michael Sainato noted last month that the company reported "a profit of over $10 billion in fiscal year 2023" and spent more than $7.2 billion on stock buybacks.

The UAW's statement came a day after John Deere announced it would lay off around 300 salaried employees at its headquarters in Moline, Illinois.

"The batch of layoffs comes after the tractor giant said earlier this month it would lay off nearly 600 workers across two factories in Iowa and one in Moline," The Chicago Tribune reported.

Given that John Deere is a major beneficiary of federal contracts and subsidies, U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris—the presumptive Democratic nominee—have faced calls to act in response to the company's mass layoffs and stock buybacks.

"Corporations that do business with the federal government aren't going to like it and will surely cry 'socialism!'" Les Leopold, executive director of the Labor Institute, wrote in an op-ed for Common Dreams last week. "But if the Democrats don’t find a way to intervene to stop the needless mass layoffs that are happening right now, there's a good chance Trump/Vance might fill the void."

As the White House remains quiet on the issue, the UAW said it is doing all it can to "minimize the impacts of these cuts and layoffs for our members at Deere and pushing the company to do right by our members, their families, and their communities."

"We will keep pushing for justice at Deere and keep letting corporate America know that the working class will not accept the scraps while the CEOs and shareholders get richer and richer," the union added.