The United Auto Workers failed to bolster its foothold in the South after the majority of workers at a Mercedes-Benz plant near Tuscaloosa, Alabama, voted against unionization on Friday.
Out of 5,075 eligible voters, more than 2,600 workers rejected the UAW, according to the National Labor Relations Board, and about 2,000 were in favor of joining the union.
Parties have five business days to file objections to the election, and while the UAW has alleged Mercedes-Benz U.S. International engaged in union busting activities, the union did not say it would challenge the election results. UAW President Shawn Fain said what happens next is up to the workers.
“While this loss stings, these workers keep their heads held high. We fight the good fight and continue forward,” he said in a statement. “And the workers here ultimately will win. Most of us have lost elections in our lives and I know I’ve always learned from it. What matters is what you do with that experience.”
Fain said “justice isn’t about one vote or one campaign,” calling out the changes that have happened at the facility since the campaign began. Ahead of the vote, Mercedes-Benz U.S. International replaced former President and CEO Michael Goebel with Federico Kochlowski, who previously served as vice president of operations, on May 1.
“The company told the workers to give the new CEO a chance,” Fain said in his statement. “That’s exactly what Volkswagen told its workers in 2019. And in 2024, Volkswagen workers realized it’s not about a CEO. It’s about a voice on the job, it’s about getting our lives back, and getting our time back.”
Last month, about 73% of autoworkers at Volkswagen Group’s assembly plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, cast their ballots to join the UAW in a landmark vote.
Thousands of autoworkers launched campaigns to join the UAW in November following record wage increases won from the Big Three during contract negotiations last year. Volkswagen’s Chattanooga assembly plant was the first non-union automotive plant in the U.S. to announce majority support to form a union in February.
Prior to the Volkswagen vote last month, the UAW represented 146,000 autoworkers between Ford Motor Co., General Motors Co. and Stellantis.
