Mercedes-Benz workers in Alabama file for election to join UAW

Workers at the Mercedes-Benz factory in Vance, Alabama, have filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board for a vote to join the United Auto Workers, the union said Friday.

The announcement comes a couple of weeks before a union election takes place at the Volkswagen AG plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, as the UAW pushes forward on its national campaign to organize foreign automaker plants after winning record deals for Detroit Three autoworkers last fall.

In February, the union said a majority of workers at the plant outside Tuscaloosa had signed authorization cards for UAW representation.

The union has said once 70% of workers at a plant sign authorization cards, it would demand the company recognize its representation, or pursue the NLRB election.

The Mercedes-Benz plant employed 6,100 workers as of 2023, according to the automaker's website. It produces SUVs: the GLE, GLE coupé and GLS model series, including the Mercedes-Maybach GLS. It also assembles the all-electric EQS and EQE SUVs. A previous attempt to organize the plant fizzled in 2014 after the union spent years seeking to gain support.

In a Friday statement provided by the union, Jeremy Kimbrell, a measurement machine operator at the Mercedes plant, said: “We are standing up for every worker in Alabama. At Mercedes, at Hyundai and at hundreds of other companies, Alabama workers have made billions of dollars for executives and shareholders, but we haven’t gotten our fair share. We’re going to turn things around with this vote. We’re going to end the Alabama discount.”

Leading up to the election filing, the union filed federal labor charges against Mercedes for "illegal union busting." It's also filed charges in a German court for labor violations. Mercedes workers hope to vote in a union election by early May.

“We are voting for safer jobs at Mercedes,” said Moesha Chandler, an assembly team member at the Vance facility, in a statement. “I’m still young, but I’m already having serious problems with my shoulders and hands. When you’re still in your twenties and your body is breaking down, that’s not right. By winning our union, we’ll have the power to make the work safer and more sustainable.”

More:VW election a crucial first test in UAW's campaign to organize transplants

In a previous statement, Mercedes-Benz spokesperson Andrea Berg said: "MBUSI has a proven record of competitively compensating Team Members and providing many additional benefits. We believe open and direct communication with our Team Members is the best path forward to ensure continued success."

The UAW has said it wants to double its autoworker membership with campaigns at more than a dozen automakers. More than 10,000 non-union autoworkers have signed union cards in recent months. In February, the union committed $40 million to the organizing efforts at those companies and battery manufacturers through 2026.

More than 30% of workers at Hyundai Motor Co.'s plant in Montgomery, Alabama, and a Toyota Motor Corp. subsidiary plant in Missouri had signed union authorization cards.

The vote at the Volkswagen plant is scheduled from April 17-19. It will not be the first time the UAW has tried to organize the facility. In 2019, VW workers at the plant voted 51.8% against union representation. There also was a narrow defeat in 2014.

According to industry experts, organizing the Chattanooga plant would be a massive victory after the UAW struggled for decades to bring transplants into its ranks, while failing to do so again would be a major setback.

Staff writer Breana Noble contributed.

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