Workers at a Mercedes-Benz plant in Alabama have petitioned federal authorities to hold a vote on whether to join the United Auto Workers union, the union announced Friday. The union announced a step forward in its efforts to organize workers at the southern auto plant.
The union is looking to build on momentum from contracts it won last year at Ford Motor Co., General Motors Co. and Stellantis. The deal gives workers at three Detroit automakers the biggest raises in decades.
The UAW is also trying to organize workers at a Volkswagen plant in Tennessee and a Hyundai plant in Alabama, giving it a larger presence in states that have attracted much of the new investment in auto manufacturing in recent decades. trying to establish. Voting at the Volkswagen plant is scheduled for April 17th to 19th.
The effort is even more important as Southern states like South Carolina and Georgia attract billions of dollars in investment in electric vehicle and battery manufacturing. The UAW strives to ensure that jobs created by electric vehicles do not pay less than jobs in traditional auto factories.
A majority of workers at the Mercedes factory near Tuscaloosa had previously signed cards expressing support for the vote. On Friday, they formally petitioned the National Labor Relations Board to hold an election to represent the UAW, the union announced.
Mercedes, which makes luxury sport-utility vehicles in Alabama, said in a statement that it “fully respects our team members' choice whether or not to unionize” and that workers “will be able to make an informed choice.” “We want to make sure that people have access to the information they need,” he said.
Southern states have traditionally been difficult areas for unions, in some cases with laws that are unfavorable to organized labor and where elected officials openly campaign against unions. Sometimes I would do something like that. Perhaps one of the reasons why this region attracts a large share of automotive industry investment is the lack of a strong trade union presence.
Attempts in 2014 and 2019 to organize a Volkswagen factory in Chattanooga, where the German company produces the Atlas sport utility vehicle and ID. It failed due to opposition from Republican lawmakers.
Toyota, Volkswagen and other automakers raised hourly wages after unions won raises for workers at Ford, GM and Stellantis. Still, non-union workers tend to earn less. Pay is often less of an issue than work schedule, health benefits, and vacation time.
UAW President Sean Fein said in a video Friday that workers are fighting for “work-life balance, affordable health care and a better life for their families.”
The union complained to the National Labor Relations Board that Mercedes retaliated against organizers in Alabama. The automaker denied the accusations and said it “did not interfere with team members' right to union representation or retaliate against them.”