Posts tagged Alabama
‘Leave us alone:’ Anti-union Mercedes-Benz employee speaks out as union vote kicks off
May 16, 2024 // More than 5,000 Mercedes-Benz employees are expected to vote. Employees can cast their votes until Friday. Results should start coming out as soon as the last ballot is cast.
Workers for Opportunity Applauds Gov. Kay Ivey for Signing Landmark Worker Freedom Legislation
May 14, 2024 // SB231 protects workers’ right to a private vote in union organizing campaigns at companies that receive taxpayer incentive dollars. Alabama joins Georgia and Tennessee in asserting that workers deserve to make decisions about who represents them in private and state taxpayers should not be subsidizing coercive unionization efforts. “The Mackinac Center for Public Policy’s national Workers for Opportunity initiative applauds Gov. Kay Ivey for signing this landmark legislation,” said Tony Daunt, senior director of Workers for Opportunity.
Mercedes-Benz Workers in Alabama Facing Unionization Pressure
May 13, 2024 // Just as foreign countries shouldn’t interfere in U.S. presidential elections, foreign actors shouldn’t interfere in American union elections. Foreign unions don’t have American workers’ best interests at heart. If Mercedes wants to operate in America, it should follow American law and not cave to IG Metall.
Nick Saban denounces UAW for misrepresenting comments, likeness in advertisements
May 13, 2024 // “I recently learned the United Autoworkers (UAW) union has taken the liberty of featuring my comments in advertisements released as part of its campaign to organize workers at Mercedes-Benz U.S. International, Inc. (MBUSI). Not only were these comments taken entirely out of context, they were also being used without my knowledge or permission. I do not personally endorse the UAW or its campaign and have asked the UAW to remove any advertisements featuring me from circulation,” Saban said. “I encourage all Team Members to exercise their right to vote in the upcoming election.”
Daimler workers have been demanding significant raises, reviving the “record profits mean record contracts” slogan of last year’s strike.
April 28, 2024 // Once part of the same company, Daimler Truck split with Mercedes-Benz in 2021. Still, an outcome seen as favorable to workers in North Carolina could give the UAW a boost not only in the upcoming Mercedes-Benz election, but also union drives underway at Hyundai, Toyota, and Honda, other foreign-owned auto plants in the South. The UAW pledged earlier this year to spend $40 million on organizing efforts through 2026, with a focus on the South.
U.S. labor secretary says UAW win at Tennessee Volkswagen plant shows southern workers back unions
April 25, 2024 // Biden is backing unions in other ways. Su noted the administration in January finalized a rule mandating unionized labor on all federal construction projects costing more than $35 million, despite complaints from nonunion contractors that the rule reduces competition and increases costs. “That’s one way that we ensure that you've got good union workers on jobs," Su said, saying union labor agreements are rising sharply on construction projects. Southern states are also pushing laws that would claw back economic incentive dollars if companies recognize unions without requiring a secret ballot election. Every major southern auto plant has received state economic development assistance.
How Big Government and Big Labor Colluded to Get VW to Unionize
April 24, 2024 // Failure to meet government sales mandates will be met with massive fines that increase by leaps and bounds after 2026. California, the nation’s biggest auto market, will, for example, require that 35 percent of automaker sales be of battery-powered vehicles by 2026. Failure to meet that number will cost them $20,000 per vehicle for every vehicle below the threshold. The percentage jumps to 43 percent in 2027, 51 percent in 2028, 59 percent in 2029, and 68 percent in 2030 on the way to outlawing the sales of gasoline cars in 2035. Federal penalties are similarly harsh. Tesla aside (as an EV-only seller, it is not only exempt from penalties, but also receives generous subsidies), just 5 percent of sales today are electric, with 50 percent of EV buyers returning to a gas car when they go back to market.
UAW eyes more wins in South after historic union vote at VW plant
April 22, 2024 // Unions in other industries are already moving ahead with organizing campaigns in the South and trying to learn from the UAW's playbook.
UAW wins big in historic union vote at Volkswagen Tennessee factory
April 20, 2024 // Workers at Volkswagen's Tennessee plant have voted to join the United Auto Workers, in a seismic victory for the union as it drives beyond its Detroit base into the U.S. South and West. A majority of eligible workers cast ballots in favor of the union, with the final tally on Friday at 2,628 to 985, or 73% for joining the UAW. The landslide win will make the Chattanooga factory the first auto plant in the South to unionize via election since the 1940s and the first foreign-owned auto plant in the South to do so.
Unions are getting bolder in targeting Big Business
April 19, 2024 // The UAW on Thursday secured a federally sanctioned unionization vote for workers at the 6,100-person Mercedes-Benz factory in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama. Pharmacists at multiple CVS stores are moving to join a new union as part of a growing backlash to what they say are unsafe work conditions, Axios' Maya Goldman reports. The Actors' Equity Association is seeking a vote to organize the 1,700 live performers at Disneyland after more than two-thirds signed union authorization cards.