After many years of resistance from a number of sources, support for the UAW in Southern auto plants is finally starting to increase. This article from the Washington Post gives the details from a couple of those plants.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/busin...cedes-alabama/

United Auto Workers make progress in effort to unionize Mercedes factory

Nearly one-third of the Alabama plant’s workers have signed cards endorsing unionization, joining a Volkswagen plant in Tennessee

The United Auto Workers pressed forward in its effort to unionize auto factories in the South by announcing that 30 percent of Mercedes workers at an Alabama factory have signed cards endorsing unionization.

The 30-year-old Tuscaloosa plant is the second to reach that milestone in recent weeks, joining a Volkswagen factory in Chattanooga, Tenn., that the union is also attempting to organize. The UAW is targeting a dozen companies’ U.S. factories, including Tesla, Honda and Toyota.

The UAW’s ambitious effort to unionize more than a dozen factories in southern states comes after the UAW won record raises and other perks in new contracts with Ford, General Motors and Jeep-maker Stellantis. Those companies operate largely in the industrial Midwest, which has long been the union’s stronghold.

Mercedes didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday. In a video announcing the milestone, the union said over 1,500 workers at the factory have signed the cards, which are typically the first step workers take when trying to form a union.

Adding factories in the South is an uphill battle for the UAW. Past efforts to unionize some of those plants failed in the face of local opposition from conservative politicians and skepticism from workers.



The union says worker attitudes toward unionization are growing more favorable as younger and more diverse employees join the plants.

Public interest in unions is growing in the United States, but translating that into new members won’t be easy. Union membership has generally declined in recent decades, as the UAW itself shows. The union’s ranks have fallen sharply from a peak of about 1.5 million workers in the 1970s, to about 400,000 members today in a variety of industries, including health care and academia. About 150,000 of its members work for automakers.

The Alabama factory is one of seven worldwide that Mercedes is using to make electric vehicles. It produces the all-electric EQS SUV, along with a variety of gasoline-powered SUVs.

Once 30 percent of eligible workers sign union cards, they have a right by law to call an election for whether the workplace wants to unionize, according to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). In some cases, employers will voluntarily recognize a union without a vote, once a majority of workers have signed cards.

The UAW is aiming for a high level of card-signing to bolster its campaign. Officials have said that if an effort to organize hits the 30 percent threshold at a company, it will publicly announce an organizing committee at the automaker and continue pushing to recruit more workers. If it hits 50 percent, the union said it will organize a rally with UAW President Shawn Fain and workers at the factory. After 70 percent, the UAW will demand that the company recognize the union. If the company won’t, the union will ask the NLRB to hold an election.

 

Imported cars from China are the future for the US market - EVs as well as ICE/hybrids. US/UAW made cars are too expensive now for middle class Americans to afford.

 

Someone give me specifics on how the UAW helps auto makers, workers and buyers.

 

They help by forcing anyone who works there to surrender part of their pay for nothing in return other than a worse working culture and risk of losing jobs due to plant closures.

 

lol!

Now let's hear from UAW supporters.

 

There is a small (but it's there, and growing) tendency of the American public to boycott vehicles built in China. Up until the last few years, most buyers didn't care where and how vehicles were built. That is starting to change.

 

The most American auto maker (by far) is not unionized. F-150 has more China content than American.

 

The mob can be very persuasive

 

Yep. If you want American buy a Toyota truck, Mercedes SUV, a few from VW group, and Honda.

 

Don't unionize, don't come up with regulations because free market will always adjust and regulate itself like to benefit the end consumer

All joking aside I think it's a good idea to have some of your workers unionized for those who really want that and apparently some folks do while others don't. And when it comes to Chinese BEVs both US and EU will stop that unless they are made in US/EU like they should be. China with it's blackmailing has killed auto industry by forcing them to partner up with every chinese auto manufacturer possible in order to setup the factories for them and reveal know-how secrets. Manufacturers would sell out their own sons and daughters if that means $1 more of profit per sale and now they are crying about upcoming Chinese.

Good thing is that every quality Chinese BEV brand is bleeding big money right now and eventually Chinese government will have to put an end to export subsidies. BYD is the only serious threat but you have to be a BYD super fan to buy that clunker of a vehicle. Tang is easily the worst BEV you can buy in western hemisphere, but they will get better you can bet on that. NIO on the other hand makes really good cars but they bleed so much money per every unit sold, their major investor is some province in china which means taxpayers money covers up their losses for now.

 

good points vladi... interesting times.

 

At some point, the UAW will make building cars here more expensive than simply importing it or the savings will be so minimal that it's not worth dealing with these unions. I know I would pay 20% more for a made in Japan Lexus than pay 20% more for the same Lexus built here by greedy UAW workers. Someone needs to remind these people the impact that plant closures will have not just on them, but the whole local economy in the area and the various suppliers.

 

this is kind of what's happened in germany as more and more german auto production is moved elsewhere. labor costs and inflexibility and rules there were the incentives to go elsewhere.

i think mexico is going to become massive in terms of car production as the u.s. shoots itself in both feet. again.

 

The deck is now stacked against the employer. This from a labor attorney after the rules were adopted (my underlining for emphasis):

"On August 25, 2023, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) adopted a new standard for union representation that requires an employer to recognize and bargain with a union that has demonstrated majority status unless the employer challenges the union’s support through an employer-initiated NLRB election and does so without committing an unfair labor practice. The ruling, combined with the resuscitation of the Board’s 2014 “ambush election” rules, will make it more difficult for employers to respond to demands for recognition from unions claiming to have majority support from the employees at issue.
Even though the Board fell short of reinstating the Joy Silk doctrine as requested by the NLRB’s general counsel, its newly adopted standard requires employers to recognize and bargain with a union that has demonstrated majority support from the employees at issue unless the employer elects to “promptly” file a petition for an election pursuant to Section 9(c)(1)(B) of the National Labor Relations Act, known as an RM petition, normally within two weeks after the union’s demand for recognition. However, if the employer invokes the NLRB’s jurisdiction and files an RM petition, but later commits an unfair labor practice that is not so minimal or isolated that it could not have affected the election results, the Board will set aside the election, dismiss the petition, and issue a remedial bargaining order requiring the employer to recognize and bargain with the union.

The decision comes a day after the NLRB revived its “ambush election” rules through the Board’s rulemaking authority. Those rules compress the time period between the time a representation petition is filed and the actual election to just a few weeks and make it more difficult for employers to take legitimate and lawful steps to educate their employees about the realities of unionization."

 

Eventually, if needed, we are likely to see protectionist laws in the U.S. restricting or outlawing the export of American manufacturing jobs.