At Mercedes, a strong anti-union campaign from the German automaker and southern politicians swayed some to vote against the UAW, workers said.
VANCE, Alabama — The United Auto Workers failed in its effort to organize a Mercedes-Benz plant in Alabama, but the loss on Friday was a good result for a first effort in a historically anti-union state, labor professors and analysts said.
"They'll be back," he said, adding that the UAW actually attracted more votes than he expected given the plant's location in the South. Six U.S. governors, including Alabama's Kay Ivey, signed a letter asking workers to reject the UAW. They said unionization would stunt the auto industry's growth across the South.
"This is a David and Goliath fight," he added."Sometimes Goliath wins a battle. But David wins the war." In 2017, Nissan workers at a plant in Mississippi rejected the UAW by a wide margin. Outside the auto industry and the UAW, in 2021 workers at an Amazon.com warehouse in Alabama voted against forming a union by a more than 2-to-1 margin. Despite the closer loss at Mercedes, organizing in the South will still be tough, analysts said.
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