UAW hits initial organizing milestone at Toyota plant in Missouri

The United Auto Workers said Wednesday that 30% of workers at a Toyota Motor Corp. subsidiary plant in Missouri have signed union authorization cards.

The facility is the first Toyota plant to meet the union's threshold to announce a public organizing campaign since the UAW last fall expressed its intention to seek to double its autoworker membership with campaigns at more than a dozen automakers. The Troy, Missouri, plant every day produces thousands of cylinder heads — the engine's lungs — for Toyota engines produced in North America, according to the company's website. As of August, the site employed 1,037 people.

When 30% of workers at a workplace sign authorization cards, a union is eligible to pursue a National Labor Relations Board election there. The UAW's strategy calls for demanding that a company recognize its representation when 70% of workers at a plant sign cards, or else pursue an election.

The announcement comes after the union last week said a majority of workers at Mercedes-Benz Group's Tuscaloosa plant in Alabama had signed cards weeks after workers at Volkswagen AG's Chattanooga, Tennessee, plant reached that threshold. Hyundai Motor Co. workers in Montgomery, Alabama, also have an ongoing public organizing campaign. The UAW has committed $40 million to the organizing efforts at automakers and battery manufacturers through 2026.

bnoble@detroitnews.com

@BreanaCNoble