A majority of employees at two Mercedes plants near Tuscaloosa, Alabama, declined the chance to hitch the United Auto Workers union in an election that ended on May 17, 2024.
UAW supporters lost 2,642 to 2,045, Just a month after employees at a Volkswagen factory within the neighboring state of Tennessee voted by a majority of three:1 to hitch the union.
Related to my research on organized labor within the United States and other countries, and from what I learned after I went to Alabama to look at the elections and discuss with Mercedes employees, I consider that the events in Alabama illustrate how tough union organizing is within the South, But it's still too early to write down off the UAW's possibilities within the region.
Public and personal efforts to dam unions
The UAW made eight failed attempts to unionize foreign automotive factories within the south over the past 35 years. That losing streak ended when the corporate won 73% of all votes solid in its historic victory in Tennessee.
My latest book: “The UAW's Southern Gamble: Organizing Workers at Foreign-Owned Vehicle Factories“underscores the most important challenges the UAW has long faced within the South.
For 40 years, Southern political and business leaders have tried to draw investment to their states – particularly from foreign-owned manufacturers – by offering massive subsidies, low taxes and lower labor costs and a largely compliant workforce.
This model worked. Today, about 30% of U.S. auto employees are within the South, up from about 15% in 1990.
Whenever the UAW tried to unionize the region's industry, the South's political establishment, dominated by the Republican Party, fought back.
Most recently, six Republican governors from the South combined this tradition into one Joint letter shortly before the Volkswagen vote. In it, they denounced the UAW's organizing efforts as “special interests invading our state and endangering our jobs and the values we live by.”
“Union Avoidance Playbook”
Automotive executives across the American South have developed what I call the “union avoidance playbook.”
This strategy includes They locate factories in rural areas with few union members, eliminate employees who could also be union sympathizers, and divide the workforce by utilizing temporary labor agencies to fill significant portions of jobs.
Messaging is equally vital.
The plants have television monitors in break rooms and cafeterias where pro-business and anti-union messages are spread. To undermine support for unions and business Donate generously to local churches, charities and politicians.
When, despite these efforts, a labor campaign gains momentum, plant managers often start a communication flash This includes mandatory meetings for entire shifts and smaller meetings with undecided employees to keep off against unionization. Union supporters should not given the chance to comment.
The communication strategy lately has included a flood of anti-union emails and text messages Persuading employees to withstand unionization.
Most foreign-owned automakers from the South will likely be hiring anti-union consultants with years of experience fighting unions to guide their efforts. If the selection still looks close, it's the businesses can replace the local CEO of the plant.
This recent hire then tells employees that the corporate now understands their complaints and is asking for a second probability.
Why the UAW convinced Volkswagen employees
The UAW's victory in Tennessee shows that the South's public-private, anti-union partnership will not be invulnerable. Three aspects explain the union's success.
First, the election of Shawn Fain as UAW president in March 2023 marked a turning point. The charismatic one Electrician from Kokomo, Indianawasted no time in dissuading the UAW from its previous agreement with automakers.
Fain used powerful rhetoric and modern tactics to attain victories on the negotiating table in the course of the UAW's simultaneous strikes at Ford, General Motors and Stellantis in the autumn of 2023.
The New contracts followed Employees got significant salary and profit increases and value of living adjustments were made. These agreements also eliminated a two-tier wage structure that gave employees hired since 2007 significantly less pay for a similar work than colleagues with more seniority.
By the tip of 2023, the UAW had shown autoworkers within the South that it could make gains that their employers were unlikely to offer on their very own. This led to more auto employees within the South want to hitch the union.
Second, the UAW overhauled its union system.
The top-down approach was history. Under Fain's leadership, the UAW provided Brian Shepherd – a proven organizer with the Service Employees International Union – will take the lead.
Shepherd gave auto employees who supported unionization the chance to accomplish that Customize organization campaigns as you see fit.
AP Photo/Kim Chandler
German solidarity
Third, the UAW's relationship with Volkswagen's German works council leadership, which represents employees within the workplace, has improved dramatically.
A works Council is an elected worker representative body that represents the interests of employees at the corporate and company level. It differs from the German Metalworkers' Union, IG Metallwhich has consistently supported unions representing U.S. auto employees.
There were connections between the UAW and the labor council tense in the course of the organizing campaigns in 2014 and 2019. But the The works council leadership modified in 2021.
During the Volkswagen campaign, the German Works Council intervened in several cases to temper management resistance to unionization and urge Chattanooga employees to vote for the union.
The UAW's Mercedes defeat
In previous votes at foreign auto plants within the South, the UAW has typically been the case received only a 3rd of the votes. In Alabama it received 44%. Therefore, it is cheap to see this loss as an indication of progress and strength, even when it fell in need of the bulk.
As I explain in my book, to win an election, a union must assert itself within the political arena and throughout the corporate and workplace.
Mercedes had the overwhelming support of the Alabama political establishment, including Rev. Matthew WilsonTuscaloosa City Council member and Baptist Church pastor.
However, there was a giant difference between the commercial disputes at Mercedes and Volkswagen. The UAW won timely support from the VW works councilthereby convincing management not to rent anti-union consultants, use anti-union language, or hold mandatory meetings.
The Mercedes works council, nevertheless, protested belatedly and didn’t change Mercedes' approach. Mercedes also replaced the local CEO, Michael Göbel Federico Kochlowskiwho promised that the corporate would higher address long-standing worker concerns.
This final flood revealed a weakness within the UAW's employee-led organizational model. It proved difficult for the few organizers to reply quickly and effectively using a network of staff who had little experience with these tactics.
Despite the win in Alabama, Mercedes management could possibly be in trouble in Germany for allegedly unfair tactics.
The The federal government is investigating Whether the corporate's anti-union campaign violates the country's supply chain law, which requires corporations to respect economic, governance and social standards, including labor rights, of their foreign subsidiaries.
Violations may end in a penalty Fine of as much as 2% of total sales.
Separately the UAW has filed a criticism against Mercedes with the National Labor Relations Board over anti-union tactics. The criticism is pending before this federal authoritywhich is chargeable for enforcing the precise of U.S. employees to prepare.
It continues
Gladly promised to proceed organizing efforts when he announced the outcomes at Mercedes. “These workers will get their fair share,” he said. “And we will be there to support them every step of the way.”
It wouldn't surprise me if a majority of employees on the two Mercedes plants in Alabama ultimately resolve to hitch the UAW.
The vote was relatively close. Union initiatives often fail at the primary attempt but succeed later when it becomes clear that management is not going to keep its guarantees to do higher.
If the UAW leadership can persuade the Mercedes works council to pressure management to limit the usage of union avoidance, the prospects for organizing the Alabama plant with a brand new campaign are particularly promising.
I feel the UAW also has an excellent probability of organizing BMW employees in South Carolina.
On the opposite hand, the unionization of employees at Korean and Japanese automotive corporations within the South is more likely to prove to be a greater challenge – also because each countries don’t have any institution comparable to the German works councils.
For the UAW to achieve success throughout the South, I consider it must develop strategies that may overcome the complete repertoire of the region's union-avoiding playbook.
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