UAW’s Fain prepares for political pushback
Says strategy from Tenn. win is template for future efforts
UAW President Shawn Fain acknowledged Monday it remains a difficult fight to organize more nonunion automaker factories despite the union’s big victory Friday at the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
On Friday, the union won an election to unionize VW Chattanooga with 73% approval. The final tally was 2,628-985 after three days of voting. The factory has about 4,300 workers.
The win is historic because the UAW had tried, and failed, twice before to organize the VW plant. This time, the union had the strength of big contract gains with the Detroit automakers last fall to fuel the fight. A majority of the workers at the VW plant had signed cards indicating they wanted a union, so victory was no surprise to Fain.
“Corporations were keeping more and more (profits), the wealthier people more and more, the workers aren’t getting their share and I think working-class people are just fed up in this country and they’re ready for change,” Fain said Monday during an interview on NPR.
Fain said he expected some political pushback ahead of the vote — he got it. He anticipates more in the weeks ahead, he said.
Politician ‘puppets for corporate America’
A day before the voting was to start, Tennessee
Gov. Bill Lee and five other Republican governors in Southern states with nonunion automakers issued a lengthy letter in an attempt to thwart a union at VW Chattanooga. The governors warned a union could lead to job losses.
Fain told NPR on Monday that he expects even more pushback when workers at the Mercedes-Benz plants in Vance and Woodstock, Alabama, vote on May 13-17 on unionization. In fact, Gov. Kay Ivey, of Alabama, was one of the governors to sign the union opposition letter.
“Obviously, the governor in Alabama has
been a lot more vocal, and some of their political leaders and the chamber of commerce,” Fain said. “But ... it comes down to this: These people are nothing but puppets for corporate America and for the billionaire class, and they’re the reason why workers aren’t getting their fair share. Politicians say they represent the people, but then say the workers don’t deserve their fair share of the labor. That doesn’t work.”
In February, Ivey said the UAW was a “looming threat” to Alabama’s economy, according to an article on AL.com. She referred to the Detroit-based UAW as an “out-of-state” interest group. She has also said on other occasions that the union’s push in Alabama is an “attack” on the state’s economic success, according to AL.com.
What matters most is Mercedes
Fain is not deterred. He said the strategy for the win at VW Chattanooga will serve as the union’s road map to unionize more automaker plants. As the Free Press reported, the UAW announced an organizing drive on Nov. 29 that would cover 150,000 workers across 13 automakers, most of which are foreign brands located in the South, but also include electric vehicle makers Tesla, Rivian and Lucid.
The drive followed the UAW’s targeted Stand-Up strike from Sept. 15 to Oct. 30 against the Detroit carmakers. The union won 41⁄2-year contracts at all three companies that included a 25% base wage increase over the life of the contract, a return of COLA, new plant investments and more.
Last week, the National Labor Relations Board announced the dates for the vote at the two Mercedes plants in Alabama. The vote comes after what was said to be a supermajority of Mercedes-Benz employees at the plants filed a petition earlier this month with the board’s Region 10 office in Atlanta seeking to represent about 5,200 production workers.
The result of that vote will be the true test of the union’s organizing momentum, said Peter Berg, a professor of employment relations and director of the School of Human Resources and Labor Relations at Michigan State University.
“The interesting thing is going to be — VW was no surprise it would be first, this was likely
the most positive outcome — but moving on to Mercedes, we’re going to see what that’s like,” Berg told the Free Press. “Let’s see what happens with Mercedes.”
‘A great awakening’
Fain said he is confident of a victory at Mercedes-Benz.
“Our next stop is Mercedes because workers there are fired up, they’re fed up and they want a union,” Fain said. “By mid-May, we believe those workers are going to vote strongly for a union also and they’re going to win justice for themselves.”
The plant in Vance, the automaker’s first major such facility built outside Germany, produces a half-dozen models, including the GLE and GLS SUVs, and has 6,100 employees. The facility in Woodstock is a battery plant, according to the company. It is not clear how many workers are in Woodstock.
Mercedes-Benz U.S. International said in a statement that it, “respects our team members’ choice whether to unionize and we look forward to participating in the election process to ensure every team member has a chance to cast their own secret-ballot vote, as well as having access to the information necessary to make an informed choice.”
“MBUSI has a strong record of success over the past 25+ years operating as One Team in Alabama. Our primary focus at MBUSI is always to provide a safe and supportive work environment for our team members, so they can continue to build safe and superior vehicles for the world. We believe open and direct communication with our team members is the best path forward to ensure continued success.”
Whether the UAW wins or not in Alabama, Fain said the victory at VW Chattanooga opens the door for unionization at the remaining nonunion facilities.
“I think it’s wide open,” Fain said. “If there was a silver lining to the COVID pandemic, it was that workers realized there’s more to life than just working in a factory seven days a week, 12 hours a day, just to scrap to get by and live paycheck to paycheck. There’s been a great awakening in this country, and I think workers are ready to do what’s necessary to get their fair share.”