Published: Saturday, May 18, 2020
TUSCALOOSA (Ala.) — The United Auto Workers’ grand plan of signing up workers in non-union plants in the South was stymied by a decisive vote on Friday against them at two Mercedes factories located in Alabama.
The newly-elected president Shawn Fain has said that the union will return back to Mercedes, and will continue to push for the organization of about 150,000 employees at more than 12 auto factories in the United States.
In an election conducted by the National Labor Relations Board, 56% of employees at Mercedes battery and Assembly plants near Tuscaloosa voted against the union.
The union suffered a major setback after the vote count. This was a month following the UAW’s breakthrough victory in Volkswagen’s assembly plant of 4,300 workers in Chattanooga Tennessee.
Final tally from the NLRB showed 2,642 votes against the union and 2,045 for. Nearly 93% (or 93%) of eligible workers cast their ballots.
Marick Masters, professor emeritus of Wayne State University’s business school, who has studied unions for many years, said that the UAW would have to analyze the mistakes and use those lessons when it expands to other non-union factories, mostly in the South.
Masters said that they will have to “go back to the drawing boards” and ask themselves if more workers need to sign up for union elections before they call a vote. He said that the union might also want to react faster to opposition from management.
Masters asked: “Do they have to be more realistic about the level of grievances, and how committed workers will be to an organizing union effort in spite of opposition?”
Fain told workers that they will be back, and that this loss was just a bump on the road. He told officials that the struggle was not over.
He said, “We’ve won before and we will win again.” “I think we’ll see a different outcome down the road. I look forward to it.”
The NLRB stated that both sides had five days to object to the election. Mercedes must also wait a full year before the union can seek another vote.
Fain said that it is up to the union’s lawyers whether they challenge the election. He accused the company “of egregious illegal conduct.”
The union has already filed unfair labor practices complaints against the company, alleging that management consultants and anti-union consultants have tried to intimidate employees. Mercedes denies the allegations.
Fain stated that “we are following up on complaints both here in Germany and Germany”, where Mercedes’ headquarters is located.
Fain said that the biggest difference between the win at Volkswagen and the loss at Mercedes was the active fight against the union. He said that Volkswagen was neutral and this wasn’t true here. Mercedes held captive meetings to fight against the UAW.
Mercedes released a statement on Friday saying that it is looking forward to “continuing directly to work with our team so they can continue to build superior vehicles for world.”
The company stated that it is focused on creating a supportive and safe work environment.
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey who has been campaigning against the union wrote on X in a blog post that auto manufacturing was one of Alabama’s crown jewels and that the state was committed to maintaining it.
She wrote: “Alabama’s not Michigan and we’re not the sweet home of the UAW.” “We urge UAW to respect this secret ballot election.”
Melissa Howell, a worker who did not want to join the union, says that she and her co-workers realized that UAW made lofty promises it could not put in writing. These included pay of $40 an hour, pensions, and better benefits.
They kept saying, “You won’t lose anything.” Howell explained that they would start with the resources available to them. Then we started telling people, “Hey, wait a minute. All of it is negotiable.
Kirk Garner, 60 years old, works in quality assurance at the Mercedes assembly line and supports joining the union. He said that workers were shown anti-union videos every day before the vote while union opponents targeted those employees they believed could be convinced to vote no.
Garner stated, “I am disappointed with the people who flipped and believed in the persuaders.”
The UAW was able to win at Volkswagen in large part because it promised substantially higher wages and benefits. The Detroit Three automakers General Motors Stellantis Ford and Ford have all agreed to raise wages by 33% between now and the expiration of the contracts in 2028. This gives the union an important recruiting tool.
The United Auto Workers, before VW, had limited success in non-union auto plants located in the South. Workers in this region are less likely to join unions than workers in Michigan and other industrial Midwestern States.
The union would have been ecstatic if it had won the battle at the Mercedes plant. It has struggled for years to compete with the incentives that Southern states offer foreign automakers. These include tax breaks, reduced labor costs, and non-unionized workers.
The UAW had a harder time in Alabama than Tennessee, where it narrowly lost the two previous votes. Workers at the factory were also familiar with the UAW.
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In an earlier version of this article, Mercedes employee Kirk Garner was incorrectly called Rick Garner.
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Krisher reported in Detroit. Wyatte Grantham Philips, a business writer for AP in New York, contributed to this story.
Source: ABC News