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.
Months after settling a crippling strike at its North American automotive operations, Stellantis faces the threat of another walkout, workers at a critical stamping plant in suburban Detroit giving union leaders the okay to shut down the facility if no agreement can be reached over health and safety issues. A walkout would also shutter key Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram assembly lines.
At Volkswagen, the United Auto Workers has succeeded organizing workers in the South for the first time and the union is now preparing for a vote at Mercedes-Benz in Alabama while pushing for a new, richer contract at Daimler Truck.
UAW achieves key victory in the Southern U.S. with historic membership vote at VW’s Chattanooga, Tennessee assembly plant. This vote could give the union more momentum in its push to expand representation in hotly contested region
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.
The United Auto Workers is asking the National Labor Relations Board to schedule a vote on union representation among workers at the Volkswagen assembly plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Get the story at Headlight.News.
Tesla has become the latest automaker to raise wages for its U.S. workers, a move that industry-watchers see as an effort to stall an organizing drive by the United Auto Workers Union. The Texas-based EV manufacturer is seen as particularly vulnerable, especially at its California assembly plant which has faced numerous complaints about racial and sexual harassment and unsafe working conditions.
The 150,000 UAW members at Detroit’s Big Three aren’t the only ones benefitting from their new contracts with General Motors, Ford and Stellantis. Three foreign-owned manufacturers have announced similar wage hikes for their own U.S. workers — hoping to keep them non-union. Find out more at Headlight.News.
With no major progress reported in contract talks with Detroit’s Big Three automakers, the UAW ordered nearly 7,000 workers to walk out at the most profitable plant operated by Stellantis, its Ram pickup line in the Detroit suburb of Sterling Heights.
GM manufacturing chief Gerald Johnson took an end run around UAW leaders by providing striking workers a detailed look at the company’s latest contract offer. “These are not poverty wages,” he stressed, noting many union employees will make over $100,000 before benefits. GM, Johnson stressed, simply can’t offer any more if it hopes to remain competitive.
Nearly five weeks in, there appears to be no immediate end in sight for the UAW’s strike against Detroit’s Big Three. In his first appearance since the union’s contracts with his company expired, Ford Chairman Bill Ford spoke out, warning the walkout could destroy the American auto industry, and saying “We need to come together to bring an end to this acrimonious round of talks.”
It hasn’t taken long for the UAW strike to impact others, as an auto supplier has already implemented layoffs and Ford sent home 600 workers who can’t get needed parts due to the strikes. UAW chief Shawn Fain dismissed the notion the Biden administration could help. Check out the story at Headlight.News.