Over 1,500 employees at Mercedes-Benz’s Tuscaloosa, Alabama, plant have signed union cards with the United Auto Workers, the largest step yet in the union’s effort to organize nonunion auto shops.
According to the union, around 30% of the shop’s workers have put their name down, meeting the National Labor Relations Board’s threshold to hold an election. The plant is one of the largest nonunion shops in the country and Mercedes-Benz’s biggest U.S. factory.
The facility has over 6,000 workers. Among them are management and ineligible temporary workers, according to the UAW.
Although the union has reached the minimum number of signatories to hold an election, the UAW wants to wait until at least 70% of the Tuscaloosa plant’s workers have signed UAW cards. This means the union will need just over 3,000 total signatures before it will call for an election.
The news comes after unionization progress at Volkswagen’s Chattanooga, Tennessee, plant, with 30% of its workforce signing up despite what the UAW calls union-busting tactics by management.
• Vaughn Cockayne can be reached at vcockayne@washingtontimes.com.
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