After winning a historic vote at the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga last month, the United Auto Workers Union takes aim at a repeat victory as workers at the Mercedes-Benz plant in Tuscaloosa cast their ballots. But the UAW faces strong local opposition from, among others, Gov. Kay Ivey who declared “Alabama is not Michigan,” as she signed a bill to discourage future union efforts.
Barely a week from now the 4,000 workers at the Volkswagen of America plant in Chattanooga will begin voting on whether they want to join the United Auto Workers in the first test of the UAW’s effort to sign up workers at the foreign-owned automotive plants that have popped up across the United States over the last four decades.
In what could be a critical development for the United Auto Workers Union, employees at the Mercedes-Benz assembly plant in Alabama are expected to file the paperwork needed to set up a vote aimed at organizing the factory. Workers at the Volkswagen plant in Tennessee made a similar move last month.