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Nora Eckert
CHATTANOOGA, Tennessee (Reuters) – The United Auto Workers made history by winning the first unionization vote at a southern U.S. auto plant. Now she needs to prove that success was no fluke with a second victory at the Mercedes plant in Alabama next month.
UAW representatives at the VW plant will also have to demonstrate their mettle by negotiating a contract that gives workers what they’ve fought for – better benefits, increased job security and greater work-life balance.
Volkswagen’s (ETR:) landslide victory in Tennessee is expected to provide crucial impetus to UAW President Sean Fein’s $40 million campaign to expand the union beyond Detroit into the southern and western United States, focusing on 13 nonunion auto companies, including Toyota (NYSE:) and Tesla (NASDAQ:).
Fein, a scrappy leader who relished last year’s fight with Detroit companies that won double-digit raises and cost-of-living adjustments, told the party of VW workers that the union would continue to fight Mercedes. “Let’s win more for the working class across the country,” he said.
The vote at the Mercedes plant, scheduled for mid-May, is expected to be tighter than at VW, which took a neutral position in the vote.
Mercedes said it respects workers’ right to organize and wants them to make an informed decision. But in a January letter to employees, the company said union organizers “cannot guarantee you anything” and that some workers were reluctant to join the union because of Mercedes’ competitive wages and benefits. campaign than Volkswagen at the plant,” said John Logan, a labor professor at San Francisco State University.
But he added that VW’s big victory, voted for by 73% of eligible workers, would provide significant momentum for organizing efforts at other plants in the South.
“This will give them a huge boost to vote for Mercedes, and if they win that too, I wouldn’t be surprised to see an election at Hyundai (OTC:) Honda (NYSE:) and Toyota over the next few months,” he said.
The UAW says it has the support of a “supermajority” of about 5,200 eligible workers at the Mercedes assembly plant in Vance, Ala., and the nearby battery plant in Woodstock. UAW policy is to insist on a vote after 70% of workers have signed union cards.
Much may depend on the economy and perceptions of job security. In the traditionally anti-union South, where the UAW has lost several battles in the past, six Republican governors have strongly opposed the union’s current campaign, calling it a threat to job security as automakers face higher labor costs.
Before UAW talks last fall with Detroit automakers, Ford (NYSE:) officials said their U.S. labor costs were $64 an hour, compared with about $55 for foreign automakers and $45 to $50 for electric vehicle leader Tesla.
Workers at two other plants in the southern United States – a Hyundai plant in Alabama and a Toyota parts plant in Missouri – have also launched organizing campaigns, with 30% of employees signing postcards saying they support the UAW.
Workers at the VW plant say they will begin meetings on Sunday to strategize contract negotiations.
“The real fight is getting a fair share,” Fein told VW workers Friday night.
VW employee Jeremy Bowman, who hopes to join the plant’s organizing committee, agreed. “The fight is just beginning,” he said.