Rally held in Tuscaloosa in support of Mercedes Benz workers

By Pat Bryant
A big battle between workers at Mercedes Benz Vance plant near Tuscaloosa, Ala and its German employer is about to come to a head. Voting begins on whether workers will be represented by the United Auto Worker (UAW) on May 13 through 17 and results will be announced May 17 by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). UAW has been on a roll. Southern worker oppression, tough and unapologetic, seems crumbling. A rather festive weekend of worker support events attracted community supporters in Birmingham and Tuscaloosa.
The United Auto Workers has filed a complaint with the NLRB of illegal company captive employee meetings and firing of workers who are advocating for unionization. Spokesman for Mercedes denies those allegations. This union battle follows a massive win of workers at the Tennessee Volkswagen plant, another German auto giant in which workers chose the United Auto Workers by a landslide. In Alabama, the main issue is pay and use of “temp workers”. A company spokesperson would not comment on pay structure.
Unionizing workers catch more hell in the South with elected leaders promising industrialists to provide docile workers in anti-union environments, nearly free land and no or low property taxes, and companies sometime keep state withholding taxes.
But feeling the power grip over workers slipping Governor Kay Ivey spoke in the media to company officials: “you need to fix this” referring to the system of threats and intimidation unique in the South. Alabama is a right to work state. That means every attempt of workers to organize is met with crushing company and government opposition. Employers can use the capital punishment for workers—firing—with no recourse. Workplaces that have unions provide a level of protection against unreasonable employer actions complained of at Mercedes Benz. Conversations with workers and community leaders show excitement and anticipation.
Several Democratic Party leaders came to support workers in weekend events in Birmingham and Tuscaloosa. The festive events with barbeque, music, and gelato in toasty heat. Former U.S. Senator Doug Jones, Alabama Democratic Party assistant chairperson Tabitha Isner, Birmingham’s Joshua Raby, the party Disability Chair were among many others that mixed with community leaders supporting workers.
Senator Jones said he was expecting as big a landslide in Alabama as at the Volkswagen vote in Tennessee.
Austin Brooks, an employee has been at the plant two years was excited. But Brooks says workers are frightened to the extent that many will not take a union flyer. Austin says employees are temps for a year, and if they don’t rub anybody the wrong may become permanent.
10 year employee Jacob Rines, was a temp worker at Mercedes for 5 years 2 months and 19 days before he was hired full-time. The six foot six husky guy may have rubbed someone the wrong way. The present campaign is his second time supporting unions at the factory. The rapid pace that workers have signed cards to unionize, he says, is amazing. He contributes worker excitement to the Big Three Automakers, GM, Ford, and Chrysler, contracting last year with United Auto Workers in a big 25 percent and higher pay raise. “It is proving that with a union we can win and get our fair share of representation”, Rine said.
Dr. Pam Foster, a medical doctor and medical school professor, said she is excited about the “possibilities of a union victory in Alabama”. She is a Alabama leader in the Poor People’s Campaign that will bring its leader the Rev. Dr. William Barber to Mercedes’ Vance factory on May 13th, the day voting begins. Barber’s presence will certainly boost a vote for unionization.
The South’s continued history of slavery, division and oppression of workers, is on the line. Tennessee, Alabama, Texas, Georgia, South Carolina, and Mississippi governors released a joint letter recently urging their followers to hold the line and not allow United Auto Workers to win at Volkswagen, Mercedes and other southern plants. That did not work in Tennessee.
Now local chambers of commerce, some elected and appointed officials are busy trying to hold the line, reportedly through fear and intimidation tactics. There are anit-worker videos and ads on television outlets, radio stations, Facebook, Instagram and newspapers. State and company pressure for a no vote is on.
Former crimson tide and NFL cornerback Antonio Langham was at a rally held at Tuscaloosa’s Christian Community Church and encouraged workers. Langham said NFL players got better health care because of the NFL Players Association fighting for workers against team owners. With the UAW, workers can do the same, he said.
No one that this writer met in a two-day swing through Alabama seemed to know much about Mercedes Benz history. The company has unions in its German factories. Its existence in Alabama seems contingent on keeping an anti-union environment.
The company seems to have decided to go along with the South’s program. Fear in the workplace is an example. The company has a history of going along with the program.
When Hitler rose to power in 1932 Mercedes factories had 6,000 plus employees. As Hitler made war in Europe Germany’s troops captured hundreds of thousands of Jews and others. 60,000 became slaves in Mercedes factories. The auto giant had 68,000 plus workers by the end of WWII. The company apologized in the 1980’s and paid a small $12 million reparations to its victims. The company did not respond to questions about its WWII history.
*Pat Bryant is a long time southern poet, community organizer, and journalist reporting and writing about the southern civil rights and human rights movement