The fight to unionize some of Alabama’s auto plants is “in a different phase now,” according to an interview with United Auto Workers President Shawn Fein.
That could mean that high-profile campaigns to sign up workers at Mercedes-Benz in Tuscaloosa County, and Hyundai in Montgomery, are shifting down after May’s failure to organize Mercedes-Benz.
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the UAW “isn’t close to securing enough worker support to call for votes” at the plants, citing sources close to the efforts.
Back in May, Mercedes-Benz workers at Vance and the company’s Bibb County battery plant voted 2,045 to 2,642 against UAW representation — a margin of 597 votes.
This came after UAW announced it had gotten 30% of the workforce at Hyundai to sign union cards.
See also: Why the union vote failed at Alabama’s Mercedes-Benz plant
The Journal cited one union supporter at Hyundai who said that effort “hit a brick wall” with only about 40% support.
Landers “Gator” Cook told the paper, “In my opinion, it’s dead. They’re not going to get a union.”
But Mercedes-Benz responded with several moves that seemed to turn the tide. In the midst of the union campaign, Mercedes-Benz announced it was eliminating a two-tier pay system that had been the subject of employee ire. The company also instituted a $2 an hour raise for some topped out employees.
Then on April 30, Mercedes-Benz named Federico Kochlowski, the Vance plant’s vice president of operations, as its new president and CEO of Mercedes-Benz U.S. International (MBUSI), replacing Michael Göbel, who served in the role since 2019.
The change came several weeks after the UAW announced a supermajority of workers had signed union cards, but two weeks before the vote.
However, Fain said the UAW still has some plans at the Mercedes plant.
“It wasn’t like we got annihilated there,” Fain said. “That was a very, very close election.”
