Workers At Mercedes Plant In Vance To Vote On UAW Membership

TUSCALOOSA, AL — The United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW) on Friday announced that a supermajority of Mercedes-Benz workers at the German automaker's plant in Vance have filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board for a vote to join the national labor union.

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As Patch previously reported, a public campaign was launched in January by employees at Mercedes-Benz U.S. International (MBUSI) in Vance to become members of the union, which says the plant and its more than 5,000 employees are the second group of Southern autoworkers to call for a union election in less than three weeks.

The election in Vance is expected to be held sometime in May.

This follows employees at Volkswagen in Chattanooga, who filed for their election in March and will have their vote to join the UAW on April 17–19.

Jeremy Kimbrell, a measurement machine operator at Mercedes, said those pushing for union membership are standing up for every worker in Alabama.

"At Mercedes, at Hyundai and at hundreds of other companies, Alabama workers have made billions of dollars for executives and shareholders, but we haven’t gotten our fair share," he said. "We’re going to turn things around with this vote. We’re going to end the Alabama discount.”

UAW also says it has filed federal labor charges against Mercedes for what it views as illegal union busting, which comes in tandem with charges filed in a German court for labor violations.

Republican state leaders, including Gov. Kay Ivey, have sharply criticized the presence of the union in the Alabama manufacturing sector of late.

"It's no wonder that UAW wants a piece of the pie here in Alabama," Ivey said on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Thursday. "And let's be clear about something: This threat from Detroit has no interest in seeing the people of Alabama succeed, our OEMs succeed, and in turn, the state to succeed like we are now."

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