UE Local 1107 members approved a new three year agreement on Friday December 5, 2025. The local represents workers at auto parts manufacturer Freudenberg-NOK in Necedah, WI who supply parts to Harley Davidson, Nissan, Ford, Chevrolet and Stellantis.
The new contract secures critical safety language, improvements in union rights, and wage increases of 10.5 percent over the life of the agreement that will bring the starting wage above $25 per hour by the second year of the contract. Wages will increase five percent in the first year, three percent in the second year, and 2.5 percent in year three.
Freudenberg has been impacted by the on- and off-again tariffs that have plagued many UE manufacturing shops and emboldened the company to seek take-aways and more “flexibility.” However, Local 1107 members had other plans and went into bargaining well-organized. They made it clear that they would not accept takeaways and were determined to secure a starting wage of $25 per hour. They were also intent on securing important safety language after union sister Kathey Morley lost her hand in a machine due to management's inattention to basic training and lockout tagout procedures.
After the injury members exercised their right to participate in the OSHA investigation, while stewards secured the machine in question and made sure management did not touch the machine or make changes to the setup until OSHA showed up a week later. However, members chose not to rely on OSHA to solve the rampant safety issues at work. They mobilized 90 percent of the shop to sign a petition demanding hands-on training to prevent another accident and presented it at the opening of negotiations.
As a result members were able to secure health and safety language in the new contract that gives the union the right to grieve health and safety violations and requires the company to provide machine-specific hands-on training in lockout tagout, machine guarding, and energy de-energization. Ultimately the company agreed to shut down production for two days and bring in an OSHA certified safety trainer to provide an in-person OSHA 10-hour course to all employees.
Ryan Becerra, bargaining team member and maintenance mechanic, said “It’s important to empower workers to address safety at work and make sure we have the tools needed to keep our people safe and not rely on politicized government agencies that rarely do what is needed to protect our life and limbs. This contract allows us to protect our people whether the government is open or not. None of this would have been possible if we didn’t have the full force of the shop behind us. All credit goes to the unity on the shop floor and our contract support committee that led the fight.”
Local 1107 members were determined to win a $25 per hour minimum wage. Chief Steward Brenda Scott said, “I’m proud that we held the line against takeaways. We said no to the attacks on our bargaining unit, our flex time and discretionary time, but we also secured a living wage. We demanded $25 because that is what we need to live in Necedah now. As private equity companies buy up rental housing across the country the cost-of-living crisis is hitting us here in Wisconsin too.”
Local President Renee Freitag reflected, “We have had a long tradition of marching on management's preshift meeting in the ‘fish bowl’ conference room when bargaining gets tough. Knowing that the attacks on flex time, overtime and bargaining unit work would provoke a reaction, management moved their preshift meeting to try and hide from the members on the floor. Our contract support committee had other ideas and marched members into HRs office wearing shirts that read ‘will strike if provoked’ and sent a clear message that we weren’t settling for anything less than $25. It literally paid off at the table when we won a $25.12 starting wage by year two. I’m proud of our union and proud of the unity we showed despite management's best efforts to pit us against each other.”
The bargaining team consisted of Local President Renee Freitag, Chief Steward Brenda Scott, Ryan Becerra, and Jason Bailey. The team was assisted by International Representative Sean Fulkerson.
The Local 1107 bargaining team. Left to right: Jason Bailey, Brenda Scott, Renne Freitag, and Ryan Becerra.