Workers at Alabama Mercedes plants break string of wins for UAW by rejecting unionization

Autoworkers at two Alabama Mercedes-Benz factories voted against a move to join the United Auto Workers union on Friday, breaking a string of unionizations in the South.

Unionization failed 56% to 44% with a total of 4,687 votes cast and 7% of eligible voters abstaining. The National Labor Relations Board said both sides will have to wait five days to file an objection.

UAW President Shawn Fain told workers the results were not what the union had hoped for, but he said the UAW eventually will prevail. “These courageous workers reached out to us because they want justice,” he said.

Fain compared the unionization fight to the biblical David and Goliath. Sometimes Goliath wins a battle, “but ultimately, David will win the war,” he said. “These workers will win their fair share.”

In April, the UAW unionized workers at a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, after two other tries. 

Gov. Kay Ivey (R-AL) voiced her pleasure for the workers’ decision, saying the “workers in Vance have spoken, and they have spoken clearly! Alabama is not Michigan, and we are not the Sweet Home to the UAW.”

One worker who opposed unionization told the Associated Press she “realized that the UAW was making lofty promises that it couldn’t put in writing.”

Another who was pro-union said workers were shown anti-union videos often and was “disappointed in the people that flipped and believed the persuaders.”

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President Joe Biden has made unions a critical part of his 2024 campaign strategy, landing an endorsement from North America’s Building Trades Unions and visiting United Steelworkers in Pennsylvania last month.

Biden also received Fain’s and the UAW’s endorsement in January.