Mercedes workers in Alabama to file for UAW union vote this week

DETROIT — Factory workers at Mercedes Benz's assembly plant in Alabama are moving forward with efforts to join the United Auto Workers (UAW), and they plan to file a petition as soon as this week, a union leader said on Tuesday.

Earlier on Tuesday, Reuters cited three people familiar with the matter saying employees at the SUV plant in Vance, Alabama, plan to file paperwork with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) seeking a formal election to join the UAW. The date of an actual vote is not yet certain.

The union's Region 8 Director Tim Smith said he had been with UAW President Shawn Fain in Alabama two weeks ago talking to Mercedes workers who were getting ready to petition this week for an union election.

«We're proud of them and they're going to win also,» Smith said on Tuesday at a North Carolina rally to kick off contract negotiations with Daimler Truck.

A union spokesman declined to discuss a Mercedes vote timeframe, but the UAW said in late February that a majority of about 6,000 workers at the plant had signed cards to join the union.

"(The company is) pushing back and the politicians are getting involved," Fain said at the North Carolina rally, adding that workers were «fed up with getting screwed.»

Mercedes did not respond immediately to the comments by Smith and Fain.

Earlier on Tuesday, a Mercedes spokesperson said the company had «a proven record of competitively compensating team members and providing many additional benefits» and that it preferred to maintain direct communication with employees.

«Following the UAW's nationwide campaign to increase its membership, (Mercedes) wants to ensure its team members make an informed decision,» the spokesperson said.

BEYOND THE DETROIT THREE

Fain is leading an unprecedented organizing effort for the 88-year-old UAW, endeavoring to unionize more than a dozen automakers, including Tesla, across the U.S.

The union has failed several times over the last two decades to organize U.S. facilities owned by Volkswagen and Nissan, but Fain hopes to succeed after reaching new labor deals last fall with the Detroit Three automakers: General Motors, Ford and Chrysler parent Stellantis.

Fain, who took on the head job at the UAW