Workers at Kentucky Blue Bar Battery Park It was submitted for election He will join the United Autoworker Union on Tuesday, marking the first major union election petition of the New Year submitted to the South and what can predict future union activities in Tennessee.

The electric vehicle manufacturing plant is part of a joint venture between Ford Motor Company and SK, spanning two Kentucky facilities and new facilities. Blueoval City Campus It is under construction in West Tennessee.

Workers at the Blueval SK factory in Glendale, Kentucky announced a unionization campaign in November. A secret voting election date will be set after the election petition is submitted to the National Labor Relations Commission on Tuesday. If the majority of workers vote in the union’s favor, the next step is negotiating the contract.

Published by Blueoval SK statement In response, he says that in the end most of the employees working in the factory are not yet employed.

“They deserve to hear their voices too,” the company said. “And our team members have not yet started production, so we had no chance to see how our factories work. UAW is truly free for our full workforce. We are about to plunge Blueoval SK into the union before we have the opportunity to make an informed choice in.

United Auto Worker, representing employees at Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, failed due to automated union representatives at Kentucky and the Bleuval SK Plant, Tennessee, during contract negotiations in 2023.

“We are forming unions so that we can have a say in safety and working conditions,” said Halee Hadfield, a quality operator at Blueoval SK, in a UAW news release. “The chemicals we work with are very dangerous. If something goes wrong, there can be a massive explosion. Our union knows there is a problem and we are ourselves and you can make sure that the whole community is safe.”

Blueoval SK said the company prioritizes safety and offers “competitive wages and regular bonuses” and promotion opportunities.

Tuesday’s submission comes shortly after the prominent South victory in 2024. Altium plants Workers at Spring Hill, Tennessee and Chattanooga facilities in Volkswagen.

“The movement led by workers at Bosk and Ultium sets strong standards for the rapidly expanding EV battery industry,” UAW said in a news release.

United Auto Workers Successfully Solve Your Tennessee Battery Plant

The Kentucky facility will begin manufacturing Ford electronic transport and F-150 lighting batteries. According to August 2024, Blueoval SK in Blueoval City, Tennessee, will begin production of the car manufacturer’s new electric commercial van cell in the second half of 2025. announcement From Ford.

After the Blueoval City Campus was announced in 2021, then-UAW president Ray Curry announced that the facility was intended to become a Union Shop. Current President Shaun Fain echo These intents for 2023.

In Tennessee, state leaders are largely refusing to establish a strong position in the UAW organization at its Bleuval city facility in Haywood county.

However, some lawmakers have it I opposed other organizing efforts.. Tennessee is in a “right to work” state, allowing employees to opt out of union membership payments. Gov. Bill Lee and a handful of Republican state senators and representatives have urged Volkswagen workers to vote against joining the UAW in April 2024, citing growth in the southern automotive manufacturing industry, “Trucks.” ” warned that it could be stopped.

When Volkswagen plant workers in Chattanooga voted 2,628-985 Benefits the union In a move that Chattanooga Democrat Yusuf Haiquam was told as a message to national leaders about the interests of their members, Lee said he thought the move was wrong.

Sam Stockard and Adam Friedman contributed.