Current:Home > InvestMercedes workers at an Alabama plant call for union representation vote -TradeWise
Mercedes workers at an Alabama plant call for union representation vote
View
Date:2025-04-16 17:32:43
NEW YORK (AP) — A majority of workers at a Mercedes-Benz plant near Tuscaloosa, Alabama, are calling for a vote to join the United Auto Workers union, which is on a drive to sign up non-union plants across the country.
According to a Friday announcement from the UAW, the Mercedes workers have filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board for the vote.
Their call for a union election arrives just weeks after workers at a Volkswagen factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee, set a date to vote for UAW representation.
The Mercedes plant in Vance, Alabama, had a total of about 6,100 employees as of the end of 2023. More than 5,000 are calling for the union vote, UAW said Friday.
“We are voting for safer jobs at Mercedes,” Moesha Chandler, an assembly team member at Mercedes, said in a statement shared in union’s announcement. “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.”
No date for the plant’s union vote has been set yet, but the UAW said the Mercedes workers hope to vote by early May.
In response to the workers’ petition, Mercedes-Benz U.S. International stated that it “fully respects our Team Members’ choice (on) whether to unionize.” The company added that it plans to ensure all workers have a chance to cast their own secret-ballot vote and have access to “the information necessary to make an informed choice” during the election process.
The UAW has accused Mercedes management of anti-union tactics in recent weeks. The union filed federal labor charges against the automaker for union busting last month, as well as charges in a German court for labor violations earlier this week.
The Alabama plant’s workers calling for UAW representation first signed cards in support of joining the union in February.
The UAW announced its organizing campaign last fall after it won strong contracts with Detroit’s Big Three. The union said it would simultaneously target more than a dozen nonunion auto plants — including those run by Tesla, Nissan, Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai, Kia, Toyota, Honda, and others.
More than 10,000 non-union autoworkers have signed union cards over recent months, the UAW said Friday. Beyond the Mercedes and Volkswagen plants, the union pointed to public campaigns seen at Hyundai in Montgomery, Alabama and Toyota in Troy, Missouri.
veryGood! (817)
Related
- Questlove charts 50 years of SNL musical hits (and misses)
- Meta allows Donald Trump back on Facebook and Instagram
- Can China save its economy - and ours?
- Activists Eye a Superfund Reboot Under Biden With a Focus on Environmental Justice and Climate Change
- Global Warming Set the Stage for Los Angeles Fires
- Amazon loses bid to overturn historic union win at Staten Island warehouse
- Family, friends mourn the death of pro surfer Mikala Jones: Legend
- Covid-19 Shutdowns Were Just a Blip in the Upward Trajectory of Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions
- See you latte: Starbucks plans to cut 30% of its menu
- Cold-case murder suspect captured after slipping out of handcuffs and shackles at gas station in Montana
Ranking
- Alex Murdaugh’s murder appeal cites biased clerk and prejudicial evidence
- Britney Spears' memoir The Woman in Me gets release date
- Judge overseeing Trump documents case agrees to push first pretrial conference
- Exxon Turns to Academia to Try to Discredit Harvard Research
- Trump invites nearly all federal workers to quit now, get paid through September
- How Capturing Floodwaters Can Reduce Flooding and Combat Drought
- America, we have a problem. People aren't feeling engaged with their work
- If You Hate Camping, These 15 Products Will Make the Experience So Much Easier
Recommendation
Juan Soto to be introduced by Mets at Citi Field after striking record $765 million, 15
This AI expert has 90 days to find a job — or leave the U.S.
Former Top Chef winner Kristen Kish to replace Padma Lakshmi as host
The First African American Cardinal Is a Climate Change Leader
McKinsey to pay $650 million after advising opioid maker on how to 'turbocharge' sales
Glasgow Climate Talks Are, in Many Ways, ‘Harder Than Paris’
A rocky past haunts the mysterious company behind the Lensa AI photo app
Jobs vs prices: the Fed's dueling mandates