UAW files for union vote at Mercedes plant

Mercedes-Benz workers in Alabama have filed for a union election as the United Auto Workers seek a vote in addition to one slated for this month at Volkswagen Chattanooga.

The UAW said in a news release Friday “a supermajority” of Mercedes-Benz workers at its assembly plant outside Tuscaloosa, Alabama, have filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board for a vote to join the UAW.

The more than 5,000 workers at the Mercedes plant are the second group of autoworkers in the South to call for a union election in less than three weeks.

Volkswagen Chattanooga workers filed for an election in mid-March and will have a vote to join the UAW on April 17-19.

Art Wheaton, director of labor studies at Cornell University, said the UAW is receiving a higher level of support among the public in the wake of the union’s recent negotiations with the Detroit Three automakers.

“You’re more likely to hear positive comments than if you had the same conversation five years ago,” he said by phone. “I hope it gives other automakers in the South the opportunity to choose yes or no.”

Jeremy Kimbrell, a measurement machine operator at

Mercedes, said in a statement that Alabama workers have made billions of dollars for executives and shareholders of companies, “but we haven’t gotten our fair share.”

“We’re going to turn things around with this vote,” he said. “We’re going to end the Alabama discount.”

The UAW said Mercedes management is running an aggressive anti-union campaign and has filed federal labor charges against the German automaker for alleged illegal union busting.

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said in an earlier statement the state’s model for economic success is under attack by the UAW.

“Make no mistake about it: These are outof-state special interest groups, and their special interests do not include Alabama or the men and women earning a career in Alabama’s automotive industry,” she said.

Later this month, about 4,300 Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga are to decide in a secret ballot vote overseen by the National Labor Relations Board whether they will choose the UAW as their bargaining representative.

The UAW lost close votes trying to organize production and skilled trades workers at the VW Chattanooga plant in 2014 and 2019.