Members of the United Auto Workers on Saturday ratified a new labor contract with Daimler Truck , the union said in a statement.

More than 7,000 Daimler Truck workers, most of them in North Carolina, had threatened to go on strike. The UAW says the workers will get raises of at least 25% plus cost of living allowances.

According to the UAW, 94.5% of the 7,300 workers who build Freightliner and Western Star Trucks and Thomas Built buses in North Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia voted for the agreement.

The United Auto Workers' new labor contract with truck and bus maker Daimler Truck is likely to energize workers ahead of the union's next target in the U.S. South - organizing a Mercedes-Benz auto assembly plant in Alabama.