UAW’s Southern Expansion Is Tested in Alabama as Mercedes Vote Ends
The United Auto Workers’ bid to organize more nonunion auto factories faces another test Friday, as voting concludes at a large Mercedes-Benz plant in Alabama.
About 5,000 employees at the German automaker’s assembly plant outside Tuscaloosa have been casting ballots since Monday on whether to form a union and be represented by the UAW. Results are expected Friday afternoon.
A win in Alabama would further build the UAW’s momentum, after a decisive victory at a Volkswagen plant in Tennessee last month. The UAW is trying to show that its recent success at VW isn’t a one-time event as it targets factories and facilities owned by nonunionized car companies, from BMW and Toyota Motor to Tesla.
A rejection, however, would mark the first setback for the UAW’s fiery president, Shawn Fain, who has rejuvenated the 89-year-old labor group through his passionate rhetoric and a more combative stance with Detroit’s automakers.
The German luxury-car maker has taken a more-assertive approach to expressing its views to workers than Volkswagen did ahead of the UAW vote in Tennessee. Mercedes officials have made presentations to workers in recent months explaining how they would address employee concerns and how things could change under union representation.
On Thursday, the union reiterated allegations that Mercedes engaged in union busting and intimidated workers who support the UAW. Mercedes denied those claims, and said it respects employees’ choice on whether to unionize. “We believe open and direct communication with our team members is the best path forward,” the company said.
The UAW secured record contracts from General Motors, Ford Motor and Chrysler parent Stellantis late last year after a six-week strike. The agreements recorded the largest gains for the union in decades, including a 25% wage bump over more than four years.
Fain’s team is hoping to parlay those successes into more victories at nonunionized factories primarily in the South, where organized labor has struggled to gain a foothold, and politicians and business leaders espouse antilabor views. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey has denounced the UAW’s organizing effort, warning that it could lead to job losses.
Under Fain, the UAW has set in motion a $40 million organization drive over the next two years that targets factories and other facilities owned by about a dozen large automakers. The effort includes some factories in the Midwest and West as well as the Southern states.
An electrician by trade and an Indiana native, the 55-year-old Fain was elected last year on a campaign to end years of corruption in the UAW’s top ranks and to elevate the voice of rank-and-file workers.
The Mercedes factory is seen by labor watchers as a tougher challenge for the UAW than the Volkswagen plant. The UAW had narrowly missed organizing the VW factory twice over the past decade. Some Tennessee auto plants already have union representation, including a large General Motors factory south of Nashville, Tenn.
The Mercedes plant, which opened in the mid-1990s, produces large and midsize sport-utility vehicles, as well as two electric models. It churned out nearly 300,000 vehicles last year, according to an estimate from the research firm Wards Intelligence.
Some workers there said they want a greater say on work schedules, vacation and other conditions.
Rick Webster, who adjusts vehicle body panels in the factory’s general-assembly area, voted yes on joining the UAW. He wants more of a voice in how the workday is scheduled and would like to move to eight-hour shifts, from 10 hours.
Webster also criticized the factory’s time-off policy. He said he had to take five days unpaid late last year for illnesses because he had depleted his time-off allotment and got warnings from Mercedes about not showing up to work.
“The No. 1 issue for me is a better work-life balance,” said Webster, who has been with Mercedes for less than two years. He also wants better pay: Webster’s hourly wage should rise within a few years to the top level of about $34, from $26.50 now, he said. UAW members at the Detroit companies earn more than $40 at top wage.
A Mercedes spokeswoman declined to discuss the company’s wages or specific employee perspectives.
Melissa Howell, who has worked at the Mercedes plant for nearly 19 years, voted against the UAW. She is wary of the UAW’s history of corruption and isn’t convinced that unionizing is the best way to effect changes she would like to see, including work-schedule adjustments.
She also has been impressed by Federico Kochlowski, the new chief executive for Mercedes’s U.S. business, who was installed last month, after he served as an operations executive. He has been making the rounds on the factory floor, chatting with workers about their families and their work gripes, Howell said.
“We have the company’s ear, for the first time in a long time,” Howell said. “If our management doesn’t get it right, we can vote the union in a year from now.”
She added: “If you vote the union in, you’re not going to vote them out in a year. They’re here for life.”
Write to Mike Colias at [email protected]