UAW announces push to unionize at a second Alabama auto plant

Organizers at the Hyundai auto factory in Montgomery says thirty percent of rank and file workers have signed union cards. That marks the official start of efforts by the UAW to represent Hyundai’s Alabama workforce.

In a new video, “Montgomery Can’t Wait,” Hyundai workers speak out on the ties between the union movement at the Korean automaker and the civil rights legacy of “Montgomery, the city where Rosa Parks sat down, and where thousands of Hyundai workers are ready to Stand Up.” Watch below.

One complaint among Alabama workers at Hyundai is a lack of retirement benefits and not having a voice about what goes on at the plant. UAW’s effort to union comes just weeks after enough staff members at Tuscaloosa’s Mercedes Benz plant signed enough cards to start the push to go Union there.

UAW’s efforts to go union at the Mercedes’ North American plant aren’t new. Alabama Public Radio reported on this story ten years ago. Back in 2014, APR spoke with Butch

“I’m a union official at Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company with the steel workers,” he told APR in 2014. “Don’t know why they kept me there so long, must be doing something right.”

Mitchell and other union leaders crowded the U-A-W office on Highway 11, in a strip mall next to the Dollar General. Even if you didn’t ask who he was, Mitchell’s red sweatshirt was a dead giveaway. It has the logo of the Steelworkers union stitched on the left pocket. Today, he was in Coaling to hear from Mercedes workers like Don White. He and twelve of his co-workers stood at a podium to talk about their grievances against the car company.

“We’ve had instances with security when folks were hand billing outside the gates,” he said. “(Security officials) coming up and asking for your identification.”

Hand billing is union slang for handing out pamphlets. George Jones works quality control at the Mercedes plant. He says he’s had run-ins as well

“Yes, I’ve been there and I’ve been hand billing, and security surrounds you, and they ask for your I.D. “ he said in 2014.

In a statement released to the press back then, Mercedes says that's not how it happened, and the company firmly denies violating any federal labor laws. However, the allegations attracted the attention of the National Labor Relations Board. The panel rejected one accusation against the automaker, but ruled that two other charges may have merit. That may sound like a victory for the unions, but Butch Mitchell isn’t too sure. We met him at the beginning of this story. He says the fight is only getting underway.

“After they (management) find out what’s happened here today, they’ll come after them,” said Mitchell. “And, they will pick out one team member and try to get him to defect. And, that’s the worst thing that can happen to your committee.”

Another face in the crowd today is State Senator Bobby Singleton. The Democrat from Greensboro is pushing a key issue with union supporters. They claim that Mercedes relies too heavily on temporary workers who are paid only half as much as full-time workers. Singleton says his bill would fix that.

“So, my bill would say that companies that are receiving incentives from the State of Alabama, they could have no more than one percent of workers be temp workers,” he said.

There are supporters and opponents of unionization in Alabama. Senator Singleton concedes one point by the critics. Namely, that cheap labor probably brought Mercedes to Alabama, along with factories for European airplane maker Airbus, and the German steel maker ThyssenKrupp. Still, Singleton says cheap labor isn’t good for Alabama.

“Temps have a right to work,” said the Senator. “But, I think we should look at whether we’re building a good economy in the state of Alabama by hiring just temporary workers.”

The United Autoworkers Union has been working to gain a toehold in Alabama and in other states Tennessee that also build cars for foreign companies. One issue is that Alabama is a right to work state, which means unions can organize here but they don’t have much power. Also, rank and file workers don’t appear to have welcomed the unions with opened arms. APR listeners learned that last year when the U-A-W staged a unionization vote at one of Mercedes parts suppliers.

Currently, the UAW ratified new contracts with Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis, formerly known as Chrysler last November. Still, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says the overall number of union workers in the nation is at an all-time low.