Just one month after succeeding after two previous failed attempts to organize a VW plant near Chattanooga, the momentum didn’t continue for the United Autoworkers union, as it lost a vote to organize at two sister Mercedes-Benz plants in Alabama.
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“While this loss stings, these workers keep their heads held high,” the UAW’s fiery president, Shawn Fain said Friday, adding “We fight the good fight and continue forward.”
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The win in April at VW was the first UAW success at a foreign automaker with a plant in the US, most of them in one of the states, while all US-based manufacturers are unionized, with the exception of Tesla.
After several days of voting time, the results were announced last Friday, in a bitter blow to labor. The combined votes at the two factories near Tuscaloosa rejected joining the union by a count of 2,642 to 2,045, or 56% to 44%, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) announced after counting the ballots.
More than 90% of the factory’s roughly 5,000 eligible workers voted.
The result was not a big surprise, however, with a generally anti-union mindset in the South and Mercedes conducting strong campaign encouraging workers from voting Yes.
Business leaders in Alabama also ran a campaign against the union that was based in part on linking unionization with the decline of the city of Detroit.
Management at Volkswagen, on the other hand, had stayed largely neutral toward the organization efforts.
The New York Times noted that “After suffering a setback at two Mercedes-Benz plants in Alabama on Friday, the United Automobile Workers union’s efforts to organize other auto factories in the South are likely to slow and could struggle to make headway.”
Over the past decade, the UAW has spent tens of millions of dollars to organize the Southern plants, about a dozen in total, but with only the win at VW to show for it.
Another view comes from Arthur Wheaton, director of labor studies at Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations, who told The Times that “Losing at Mercedes is not death for the union. It just means they’ll have less confidence going to the next plant. The UAW is in it for the long run. I don’t think they’re going to stop just because they lost here.”
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 After the vote, Mercedes in a statement emphasized its direct relationship with workers and said it looked forward to making sure the company was “not only their employer of choice, but a place they would recommend to friends and family.”
“While this loss stings, these workers keep their heads held high,” the UAW’s fiery president, Shawn Fain said Friday, adding “We fight the good fight and continue forward.”
The UAW has said there are public organizing drives under way at a Hyundai Motor assembly plant in Montgomery, AL, and a Toyota Motor engine plant in Troy, MO. The union hasn’t said if one of those sites, or a different location, might be the next target for a vote.
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