UAW President, Sean Fain, surrounded by Mercedes workers at union headquarters discusses election

By Chance Phillips, Alabama Political Reporter

The final count in the week-long union election at the Mercedes factory in Vance was 2,642 against unionizing versus 2,045 in favor. 51 ballots were challenged and not counted and 5 ballots were void. The election still has to be certified by the National Labor Relations Board, but it is very unlikely that this process will not change the results.
Speaking at the UAW Local 112 headquarters in Coaling, UAW President Shawn Fain said “these courageous workers reached out to us because they wanted justice. They led this fight.”
Fain remained optimistic about the union’s prospects and its momentum as it tries to organize workers in the South. “We’ll be back in Vance,” he said. “I assured the company of that before I walked out the door and shook their hands.”
Today’s loss for the UAW follows what Mercedes employee Brett Garrand described as “a constant brow beating of anti-union campaigns” by Mercedes, the Business Council of Alabama, and Alabama politicians.
Alabama Secretary of Commerce Ellen McNair promised in January that “led by Governor Kay Ivey and backed by the Business Council of Alabama (BCA) and other key players in Alabama’s business community, we’re going to fight the United Auto Workers.”
Gov. Ivey and several other prominent state politicians released anti-union statements regularly during the four-month campaign. During a speech about signing SB231, which heavily penalizes the voluntary recognition of labor unions, Ivey said she wants “to ensure that Alabama values, not Detroit values, continue to define the future of this great state.”
The Business Council of Alabama conducted the Alabama Strong campaign, which ran anti-union advertisements online and on local television channels.
Mercedes itself also engaged in many practices union supporters have called oppressive. Workers were required to sit through daily mandatory meetings and watch anti-union videos. Flyers posted around the plants read “if you don’t want a union, vote no,” or simply “vote no.”
The National Labor Relations Board is currently investigating six unfair labor practice charges filed by the UAW against Mercedes. On May 16, Germany’s Federal Office for Economic Affairs and Export Control announced that it is also investigating Mercedes for anti-union behavior that may have broken German law.
In a statement, AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler called the anti-union behavior by Mercedes and Gov. Ivey “part of a long oppressive history in the South, from slavery to Jim Crow ‘right to work’ laws to prison labor.”
One of the major contributors to today’s loss is likely Mercedes’ replacement of its unpopular plant CEO, Michael Göbel, with then-vice president of operations Federico Kochlowski. In the lead up to and during the election week, Mercedes employees were implored to give Kochlowski a chance by voting no.
While the loss for the UAW today is a major setback for the union, it is not necessarily a death knell for Mercedes workers’ hopes of unionizing. On Thursday, Garrard pointed to “Volkswagen winning their union after three tries.” In 2014, the vote at the Chattanooga plant was 712 against, 626 for, and in 2019, the vote was 833 against, 776 for. But in April, Volkswagen workers overwhelmingly voted to join the UAW with 2,628 in favor and only 985 opposed.
One pro-union Mercedes worker, Robert Lett, optimistically proclaimed on Wednesday that “Mercedes is going to be unionized, it doesn’t matter if it’s Friday or in the future.” Before the results began to come in, Rick Webster, who works doing final fit and finish for Mercedes, confidently stated that he “would definitely try again” if needed.

With an ongoing two year, $40 million campaign by the United Auto Workers to organize Southern workers, pro-union workers at Mercedes and other Southern auto plants will likely continue to try to organize and build support for unionization in the coming months and years. The next UAW union election target is the Hyundai plant in Montgomery, Alabama,
In a press release responding to the election results, Mercedes stated that “we look forward to continuing to work directly with our Team Members to ensure MBUSI is not only their employer of choice, but a place they would recommend to friends and family.”

What UAW needed at Mercedes and must have in Hyundai

 

News Analysis by: Pat Bryant

Rev. James Orange, the late powerful civil rights and labor leader often said labor unions need to make a real investment in Black people in the South to win. The UAW win at VW in Chattanooga, Tn and the UAW loss at Mercedes near Tuscaloosa clearly point to the need for upsized investments of money and other resources in the UAW fight to represent auto workers at Hyundai Montgomery and other southern auto factories. Rev. Orange’s words speak loudly from the grave.
While the UAW did not win the election, the union is likely to raise wages somewhat, and make a few concessions they promised if workers rejected the union.
Rev. Orange was a dynamo who would coral leaders in churches, civil rights groups and organizations in communities to support union organizing. Communities trusted Rev. Orange who began as young leader in Dr. King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
Where are the trusted UAW leaders now who can influence workers and communities.
The UAW overwhelming victory at the VW factory in Tennessee was due largely to UAW success in the Big Three strike (Ford, General Motors, Stellantis [formerly Chyrsler]}. Striking workers got a whopping 25 percent wage increase plus benefits. That win created a desire bynon-union workers at foreign auto makers to get more. Tennessee was the first vote, an enthusiastic victory.
But then came Alabama. The anti-union challenge of six southern governors to renewed southern UAW organizing, didn’t work in Tennessee, but was powerful with Governor Kay Ivey giving the signal for Mercedes to stop the union drive the old southern way. Fear, intimidation, and firing, the capital punishment for workers were all used, and were effective. Pro-worker literature in non-work areas was seized. The whole array of Chamber of Commerce, religious and social leaders weighed in against the union drive.
Mercedes held captive audience employee meetings where they blasted the UAW with misrepresentations and inuendo. Across the region there was chorus of “don’t vote union. The company will leave and you will loose this good job.” Right to work and the southern labor discount is still effective.
Mercedes Benz spokespersons denied violating workers rights. The vote was 2045 or 44 percent of workers for the UAW and 2,642 or 56 percent against.
That was not unusual. But what was unusual was the absence of a more visible campaign from Alabama’s justice communities, labor, civil rights, youth, religious and progressive community groups. The UAW is very sensitive to efforts that might turn off white and conservative Black voters. Rev. Orange and former White labor leader C.P. Ellis, a former Klansman, were experts at speaking clearly to white and black workers while not turning off the other.
Workers facing the union challenge need the support of community and family. Church rallies, not used in the Tuscaloosa area, would be very effective in influencing Montgomery workers. The Hyundai plant is located in Montgomery County and draws its workforce from surrounding Black Belt Counties. House calls, visits to workers’ homes are a must for union wins. Accounts of these fights in Black media is a must. Black Belt counties in the South face the worst repression by politicians and business leaders.
Don’t be fooled, the Hyundai Company cracks the whip but denies wrongdoing. There are allegations and complaints of Black workers being required to say “Master” when referring to a White supervisor. The firing of the highest ranked Black person, Yvette Gilkey-Shuford, and calling the firing a restructuring. Allegations are that the most dangerous jobs on the assembly lines are populated by Blacks. That is the Hyundai story.
Important to the Hyundai story is how the UAW is able to assemble an array of community based fighters including Alabama labor unions, progressive churches, civil rights groups, women’s organizations. And important is the amount of dollars the United Auto Workers will invest in their fight.

*Pat Bryant is a retired urban planner, community organizer, singer, poet, journalist who has been active in southern justice fights for sixty plus years.