Mercedes workers in Alabama to file for union vote

Mercedes Benz’s assembly plant workers in Alabama are marching ahead with their efforts to join the United Auto Workers (UAW). According to a union leader, the factory workers are planning to file a petition as early as this week. 

This can be supplemented by media reports that cited people on the inside planning to file paperwork with the National Labour Relations Board (NLRB) seeking a formal election to officially join the UAW. However, the date of the actual vote has not yet been decided. 

The Region 8 Director of the union, Tim Smith, shared that he was with the UAW president Shawn Fain in Alabama a couple of weeks ago where he was in conversation with Mercedes workers priming themselves to petition this week for a union election.

On Tuesday, at a North Carolina rally during contract negotiations with Daimler Truck, Smith said, “We’re proud of them and they’re going to win also”.

While the union spokesperson declined to disclose the time frame for Mercedes’s vote, the UAW had said in late February that a majority of about 6000 workers at the plant had already signed cards to join the union.

Pointing to the fact that the workers are “fed up with getting screwed”, Fain also mentioned at the North Carolina rally that “The company is pushing back and the politicians are getting involved”.

Mercedes initially remained mum about the comments by Smith and Fain but earlier on Tuesday, a Mercedes spokesperson shared that the company has “a proven record of competitively compensating team members and providing many additional benefits”. 

He also added that the company preferred to maintain direct communication with its employees. “Following the UAW’s nationwide campaign to increase its membership, (Mercedes) wants to ensure its team members make an informed decision,” the spokesperson said. He also added that the company has neither interfered with nor retaliated against any worker seeking union representation.

Fain’s unprecedented efforts of unionising more than a dozen automakers, including Tesla, have failed several times over the last two decades to organise US facilities owned by Volkswagen and Nissan. But after the successful labour deal with Detroit Three automakers: GM, Ford and Stellantis, Fain is hopeful to succeed in his endeavours.

A vote at Mercedes is likely to inspire a similar push at Volkswagen’s assembly plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where the voting is scheduled to end on April 19.

According to an NLRB spokesperson, the agency has received many unfair labour practice charges filed by the UAW against Mercedes but is yet to receive a petition for an election at the Alabama plant.

Expanding beyond the Detroit Three is the clear goal for UAW. In November, Fain said, “When we return to the bargaining table in 2028, it won’t just be with the Big Three, but with the Big Five or Big Six”. 

Efforts to organise non-union plants are underway and are expected to accelerate in case the union wins early votes. This would in turn have a significant impact on the declining memberships which has dipped from 1.5 million UAW members in the 1970s to 370,000 in 2023, its lowest since 2009.