just transition

By Dan La Botz - International Viewpoint, May 19, 2024

Mercedes-Benz succeeded in defeating the United Auto Workers (UAW) in an election held in the company’s plant in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, but UAW President Shawn Fain sees the defeat as a temporary setback in the union’s plan to organize the auto industry in the South.

“We fought the good fight and we’re going to continue forward,” said Fain. “I believe workers want unions, I believe they want justice, and we’re going to continue doing what we can do. Ultimately these workers are going to win.”

The vote held from May 13 to 17, was 2,045 for the union and 2,642 against out of 5,075 workers eligible to vote. In fact, in the South which has few unions, where the politicians are fiercely anti-union, and where Mercedes conducted an intense campaign against the UAW, it is not a bad result.

The UAW had been on a roll, having won the first national strike against all three big U.S. auto makers—GM, Stellantis and Ford—and then a successful organizing drive at Volkswagen in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Now they’ve been slowed, but not stopped.

Alabama Governor Kay Ivy had urged workers to vote against the union. “We may soon face another watershed decision when the U-A-W asks nearly 50,000 Alabamians: Do you want continued opportunity and success the Alabama way? Or do want out-of-state special interests telling Alabama how to do business? For me, the choice is clear.”

Federico Kochlowski, who became the president and CEO of Mercedes-Benz U.S. International (MBUSI) on April 30, 2024, led the vicious campaign against the UAW. He oversaw distribution of anti-union videos and mailings and captive-audience meetings where company managers argued workers would be foolish to join the union.

The UAW has filed unfair labor practices charges with the National Labor Relations Board, accusing the company of engaging in coercive statements and coercive rules to prevent workers from exercising their right to a free and open union election. The UAW also accuses Mercedes of laying off and refusing to hire pro-union employees.

The UAW has also filed charges with the German government, alleging that Mercedes violated the country’s Act on Corporate Due Diligence Obligations in Supply Chains. The Biden administration also spoke to the German government about the UAW’s allegations of union-busting.

While the union lost this one, it is expected to fight on. Harley Shaiken, a labor professor at the University of California, Berkeley, explained that the UAW lost twice at the Volkswagen plant in Tennessee, and that in an earlier loss at VW in 2014, 53% voted against the union. But then this year 73% voted for the union. “I have no doubt they will continue organizing and eventually try for another vote,” he said.

One Mercedes worker told Labor Notes, “We’ll try to figure out what we did wrong, where we missed the mark,” said Robert Lett. “We’ll try to figure out how to shore up for the next time. Because there will be another time. We’re not just going to shrug and walk away. We know this company. We know the company values their profits more than they value their employees.”

The UAW has allocated $40 million for organizing and is looking to organize other plants in the South as well. The union must become larger and stronger if it is to confront the industry as it makes the transition to electric vehicles. The union has organizing drives under way at a Hyundai plant in Montgomery, Alabama and Toyota Motor in Troy, Missouri. Republican governors in the South have united in opposition to the union while President Joe Biden has praised the UAW. Presidential candidate Donald Trump has ridiculed UAW president Shawn Fain calling him stupid while insisting that he loves auto workers and that the UAW had better endorse him or it will disappear. A lot of bluster. But, no matter, Shawn Fain says the UAW will not be deterred.

By Sarah Jaffe - In These Times, May 17, 2024

Workers at the Mercedes-Benz U.S. International plant in Vance, Alabama came up short in their first union election on Friday, May 17, with 2,045 votes to join the United Auto Workers and 2,642 against. 

A brief but high-energy campaign that saw real improvements won at the plant and a worker-led effort to organize failed to create a wave after the high-profile Volkswagen workers’ win in April in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

“These courageous workers reached out to us because they wanted justice. They led us. They led this fight. And what happens next is up to them,” UAW President Shawn Fain told reporters shortly after the vote count. ​“Justice isn’t just about one vote or one campaign. It’s about getting a voice and getting your fair share. Workers won serious gains in this campaign. Don’t lose sight of that. The UAW bump, they killed wage tiers. They got rid of a CEO that had no interest in improving. Mercedes is a better place thanks to this campaign and these courageous workers.”

Rob Lett, a worker at the Mercedes-Benz plant, notes that ​“essentially this is a post-Covid world and corporations have to understand that they can’t treat people in any haphazard way and think that they’ll just hold their heads down and say, ​‘No, I can’t do any better.’ People understand now that life’s too short.”

Rick Webster, another member of the organizing committee at Mercedes, told me, ​“The vote shows that we do have a really strong base though, and we just got to continue this fight. Obviously, everybody’s going to be looking at Mercedes to see what they do from here. Are they actually going to try and improve conditions in the workplace to try and sway our base to come to their side? Or are they just going to continue like nothing ever happened?”

“If it had been a landslide for the company,” he continued, ​“yeah, I’d probably feel pretty deflated at that point. But with those numbers, I feel really good about that.”

By Luis Feliz Leon and Jane Slaughter - Labor Notes, May 17, 2024

A no-holds-barred campaign by Mercedes management convinced a majority of workers at its Alabama factory complex to vote against forming a union.

In addition to anti-union videos and mailings, captive-audience meetings, firings, and an onslaught of pressure from state politicians and even a local pastor, the winning move was to fire the company’s U.S. CEO and replace him with a vice president who promised to care about the “team members.”

A team leader named Ray Trammell, who voted no, said his area was 100 percent union before the former CEO was removed. “[New CEO] Federico [Kochlowski] has been a positive influence,” he said. “A lot of people want to give him a chance. It was all production-driven before him; he’s more about the team members. He’s willing to change.

“We have a year. We have that year to see what he does. If he doesn’t make positive changes we can bring the union in.” (After losing an election a union has to wait a year before filing a new petition for the same group of workers.)

The vote, held May 13-17, was 2,045 in favor of forming a union to 2,642 against. The majority of the workforce is Black. There were 51 challenged ballots, and five voided; 5,075 workers, not including contract workers, were eligible to vote.

“These courageous workers took on this fight because they wanted justice,” said United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain. He said the federal government and the German government are investigating the intimidation that Mercedes inflicted on workers, following the “same playbook” of union-busting as other U.S. employers.

“Ultimately these workers are going to win,” he said. “We have no regrets in this fight.”

Pro-union fit and finish worker Rick Webster had brought his fourth-grade son Aaron to the vote count. “I wanted him to witness history,” he said shortly beforehand. “It’s going to be life-changing. We can’t wait. We will be able to negotiate instead of being dictated to.”

At Mercedes, previous union efforts had never gotten this far. So this was the first time workers had experienced a full-on anti-union campaign—and it worked on some of them. A worker named Keda, for example, said she wanted to “give Federico a chance.” She pointed to management’s elimination of two-tier wages as an indication of good faith.

Others voted no more out of fear than out of hope. “If it’s not broke, don’t rock the boat,” said a worker named Terry. Team leader Arthur Bates said he didn’t want to see layoffs. “Mercedes has shareholders and they have to keep the shareholders happy,” he explained. “If they lose some money somewhere, the company will find a way to make that money back.”

The workers who have been fighting so hard to organize were surprised and disappointed at the loss—but they said their resolve wasn’t shaken. “We’ll try to figure out what we did wrong, where we missed the mark,” said battery worker Robert Lett. “We’ll try to figure out how to shore up for the next time. Because there will be another time. We’re not just going to shrug and walk away.

“We know this company; we know their M.O. We know the company values their profits more than they value their employees. As soon as they feel like it’s advantageous to them, they’re not going to take workers’ personal lives into account.”

“It’s disappointing that some of our supporters slipped to vote no,” said Kirk Garner, a quality worker in plant two. “It’s disappointing that the company put on an anti-union campaign when it was part of their company policy not to.”

But, he said, “we’ve been trying this for 25 years. We’ll try again next year and every year till we get it. We’ll wait three or four months and start over.”

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