Posts tagged Alabama
Volkswagen union vote in Tennessee to test UAW’s power after victories in Detroit
April 18, 2024 // More than 4,000 VW workers are eligible to vote, beginning Wednesday and ending at 8 p.m. EDT on Friday. The organizing vote, which is being overseen by the National Labor Relations Board, will need a simple majority to succeed. Fain and others see this week's vote as the union's best shot at organizing the VW plant following the record contracts and strikes at the Detroit automakers, which launched Fain to international prominence as the face of the union last year.
Op-ed: In Pursuit Of Southern Foothold, UAW Faces Resistance
April 17, 2024 // “We the Governors of Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas are highly concerned about the unionization campaign driven by misinformation and scare tactics that the UAW has brought into our states,” the joint statement noted, adding that the reality in 2024 “is companies have choices when it comes to where to invest and bring jobs and opportunity. We have worked tirelessly on behalf of our constituents to bring good-paying jobs to our states. These jobs have become part of the fabric of the automotive manufacturing industry. Unionization would certainly put our states’ jobs in jeopardy – in fact, in this year already, all of the UAW automakers have announced layoffs. In America, we respect our workforce and we do not need to pay a third party to tell us who can pick up a box or flip a switch. No one wants to hear this, but it’s the ugly reality. We’ve seen it play out this way every single time a foreign automaker plant has been unionized; not one of those plants remains in operation.”
ALABAMA: Brightspeed union workers picket for better benefits
April 16, 2024 // Sain says if there is a strike or work stoppage it could be detrimental for customers — he says there are not many contractors out there who could step in and do the job. “When you take that much experience out of the office and put them in the street striking it’s going to be hard to fix troubles,” Sain said.
Alabama Mercedes Benz plant workers file for union election, UAW says
April 9, 2024 // Union officials have claimed in filings to federal regulators that some automakers are retaliating against workers or encumbering their attempts to organize. The labor group on Wednesday filed charges against Mercedes for violating Germany’s new law on global supply chain practices, which prohibits German companies from disregarding workers’ rights to form trade unions. The company responded to some of the union's charges, saying they are inaccurate. It also said the company recognizes its employees' rights to organize.
Seeking to defy history, the UAW is coming closer to unionizing in the South
April 7, 2024 // Southern politicians have offered their own biting criticism of this latest UAW push, framing their opposition as a move to protect jobs. "Alabama has become a national leader in automotive manufacturing, and all this was achieved without a unionized workforce," wrote Alabama Governor Kay Ivey in an op-ed for the Alabama Department of Commerce. "Make no mistake about it: These are out-of-state special interest groups, and their special interests do not include Alabama or the men and women earning a career in Alabama's automotive industry."
Alabama bill cutting economic incentives to keep unions from ‘strong arming employees’ advances
April 5, 2024 // An Alabama Senate committee Wednesday approved a bill that would withhold economic incentives from companies that voluntarily recognize unions or do not hold secret ballots in union elections. . SB231, sponsored by Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, passed the Senate Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Development Committee on an 11-3 vote, down party lines.
Bill clawing back incentives from companies who voluntarily recognize unionization approved by Senate committee
April 5, 2024 // According to Orr's bill, no employer would be eligible to receive an economic development incentive for a project if the employer voluntarily grants recognition rights for the employees solely and exclusively based on signed labor organization authorization cards if the selection of a bargaining representative may be conducted through a secret ballot election. “I’m not anti-union. Unions are a lot like good government; they’re a necessary evil. They have their place in the workforce, but there are a lot of companies that can’t afford the labor, the expense, or the unionization and the demands that come with it and the added expense,” State Sen. David Sessions (R-Grand Bay) said during the meeting. “What you’re going to wind up doing is if those companies unionize, you’re putting them out of business. You’re putting them out of business and you’re losing all of those jobs.” An employer who voluntarily discloses an employee's personal contact information to a labor organization or third party acting on behalf of a labor organization without the employee's prior written consent, unless otherwise required by state or federal law, would also be ineligible for economic development incentives under the bill.
Voters Rights for Workers in Tennessee and Georgia—and More?
April 3, 2024 // Recent introduced, SB 231 also ties state subsidies with businesses committing to conducting unionization votes via secret ballot and to obtaining employees’ written permission before sharing their contact information with unions. As the bill’s sponsor, Senator Arthur Orr explains, “It’s good policy to have the private vote matter [and] to make sure that the employees… can keep their votes to themselves and not be coerced or bullied one way or the other.” Like Tennessee and potentially Georgia’s and Alabama’s reforms, ALEC’s Taxpayers Protect Worker Act strives to protect workers’ personal information and their right to a secret ballot. Approved at the 2023 ALEC Annual Meeting, the model policy affirms that “whenever State funds or benefits are sought by a private business… such benefits [should] be conditioned on the private business agreeing not to waive its employees’ right to a secret ballot election when recognizing a labor organization.” It likewise states that employees and subcontractors have the right to decide if their personal contact information is shared with unions.
This Union Is Plotting To Take Over The Auto Industry. Can It Be Done?
March 26, 2024 // “It’s no coincidence that UAW is finally gaining ground in Tennessee: Biden has absolutely tilted the playing field at the NLRB in favor of unionization,” David Osborne, fellow at the Institute for the American Worker, told the DCNF. “Unfortunately, many of these changes — like the NLRB’s ruling in Cemex that a union election isn’t even necessary — favor union officials at the expense of rank-and-file workers. In announcing its plans to expand unionization efforts, UAW is obviously embracing this new legal landscape.”
UAW moves to hold unionization vote at Volkswagen plant in Tennessee
March 18, 2024 // The UAW said a supermajority of eligible Volkswagen workers signed union cards to call for the election at the Chattanooga plant. The facility is Volkswagen's only assembly plant in the U.S. and employs about 4,100 workers who make the Atlas and ID.4. The union added that it "is the only Volkswagen plant globally with no form of employee representation."