Mercedes-Benz workers in Alabama vote against UAW union membership

Mercedes-Benz
workers
in
Alabama
have
voted
against
union
representation
by
the
United
Auto
Workers,
the
National
Labor
Relations
Board
said
Friday.

The
results
are
a
blow
to
the
UAW’s
organizing
efforts
a
month
after
the
Detroit
union
won
an
organizing
drive
of
roughly
4,330
Volkswagen
plant
workers
in
Tennessee.
Voting
started
Monday
and
ended
Friday.

Union
organizing
failed
with
56%
of
the
vote,
or
2,642
workers,
casting
ballots
against
the
UAW,
according
to

the
NLRB,
which
oversaw
the
election.
More
than
90%
of
the
5,075
eligible
Mercedes-Benz
workers
voted
in
the
election,
according
to
the
results.

The
NLRB
said
51
ballots
were
challenged
and
not
counted,
but
they
aren’t
determinative
to
the
outcome
of
the
election.
There
were
five
void
ballots. 

The
union
and
company
have
five
business
days
to
file
objections
to
the
election,
including
any
alleged
interference,
according to
the
NLRB.
If
no
objections
are
filed,
the
election
result
will
be
certified,
and
the
union
will
have
to
wait
one
year
to
file
for
a
union
election
for
a
similar
bargaining
unit.

Mercedes-Benz
in
a
statement
said
company
officials
“look
forward
to
continuing
to
work
directly
with
our
Team
Members
to
ensure
[Mercedes-Benz
US
International]
is
not
only
their
employer
of
choice,
but
a
place
they
would
recommend
to
friends
and
family.”

The
loss
is
expected
to
hurt
the
UAW
in
an
unprecedented
organizing
drive
launched
late
last
year

of
13
non-union
automakers
in
the
U.S.
after
securing
record
contracts
with
Detroit
automakers


Ford
Motor,


General
Motors
and


Stellantis.
Those
agreements
included
significant
wage
increase,
reinstatement
of
cost-of-living
adjustments
and
other
benefits.

UAW
President
Shawn
Fain
said
while
the
Mercedes-Benz
vote
was
obviously
not
the
result
the
union
wanted,
it
was
a
valiant
effort,
adding
the
vote
“isn’t
a
failure”
but
a
“bump
in
the
road.”

“While
this
loss
stings,
I’ll
tell
you
this,
we’re
going
to
keep
our
heads
up,
keep
our
heads
up
high.
These
workers
have
nothing
to
do
but
be
proud
in
the
effort
they
put
forth
and
what
they’ve
done,”
he
said
Friday
during
a
media
conference.
“We
fought
the
good
fight
and
we’re
going
to
continue
on,
continue
forward.
Ultimately,
these
workers
here
are
going
to
win.”

The
Mercedes-Benz
vote
was
expected
to
be
more
challenging
for
the
union
than
the
Volkswagen
plant
in
Tennessee,
where
the
union
had
already
established
a
presence
after
two
failed
organizing
drives
in
the
past
decade
and
where
it
faced
less
opposition
from
the
automaker.

Stephen
Silvia, author of
“The
UAW’s
Southern
Gamble:
Organizing
Workers
at
Foreign-Owned
Vehicle
Plants,”
noted
Mercedes-Benz
replaced
the
plant’s
leader
weeks
ahead
of
the
election.
He
said
companies
routinely
do
this,
promising
workers
changes
at
their
facilities
in
an
effort
to
stave
of
organizing.

“Companies
do
anti-union
campaigns
because
they
can
be
effective,
and
I
think
this
one
was
effective,”
said
Silvia,
a
professor
at
American
University
in
Washington,
D.C.
“A
common
piece
of
an
anti-union
campaign
is
firing
the
plant
manager
…
That
seems
to
have
persuaded
enough
of
the
workers
to
vote
against
the
union.”

Alabama
Gov.
Kay
Ivey,
who
was

one
of
six
Republican
governors
to
condemn
the
union’s
organizing
drive,
hailed
the
outcome
of
the
vote.

“The
workers
in
Vance
have
spoken,
and
they
have
spoken
clearly!
Alabama
is
not
Michigan,
and
we
are
not
the
Sweet
Home
to
the
UAW.
We
urge
the
UAW
to
respect
the
results
of
this
secret
ballot
election,”
she
said.

Workers
at
Mercedes-Benz’s
Tuscaloosa
plant,
located
about
60
miles
southwest
of
Birmingham,
have
produced
more
than
4
million
vehicles
since
the
plant
opened
in
1997,
including
295,000
vehicles
in
2023,
according

to
the
plant’s
website.

The
Alabama
plant
currently
produces
vehicles
such
as
the
gas-powered
GLE
and
GLS
Maybach
SUVs
as
well
as
the
all-electric
EQS
and
EQE
SUVs.

The
NLRB
last
week
said
it
continues
to
process
and
investigate
open
unfair
labor
practice
charges
filed
by
the
UAW
against
automakers,
including
six
unfair
labor
practice
charges
against
Mercedes-Benz
since
March.

Fain
said
Friday
the
union
would
continue
to
move
forward
with
those
charges.
He
declined
to
say
whether
the
union
plans
to
challenge
the
election
results,
saying
he’d
“leave
that”
to
the
union’s
legal
team.

The
charges
allege
that
Mercedes-Benz
has
“disciplined
employees
for
discussing
unionization
at
work,
prohibited
distribution
of
union
materials
and
paraphernalia,
surveilled
employees,
discharged
union
supporters,
forced
employees
to
attend
captive
audience
meetings,
and
made
statements
suggesting
that
union
activity
is
futile,”
the
NLRB
said.

The
union
has
filed
other
charges
against
automakers


Honda,


Hyundai,


Lucid,


Rivian,


Tesla
and


Toyota,
according
to
the
NLRB.