Workers at Mercedes factories near Tuscaloosa, Alabama, to vote in May on United Auto Workers union
DETROIT (AP) — Thousands of workers at a big Mercedes-Benz factory near Tuscaloosa, Alabama, will vote next month on whether they want to be represented by the United Auto Workers union.
The National Labor Relations Board said Thursday that the vote will take place from May 13 to May 17 at the facilities in Vance and Woodstock, Alabama. Votes will be counted by the agency on May 17.
The NRLB said that the company and the union agreed to the election dates.
The vote will be the second in the union’s drive to organize 150,000 workers at more than a dozen nonunion auto manufacturing plants largely in Southern states. About 4,300 workers at Volkswagen’s factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee, are voting on union representation this week, with the vote tally to be announced on Friday.
The organizing effort comes after the UAW won big pay raises after striking Detroit’s three automakers last fall.