On Wednesday, workers at the Mercedes-Benz plant in Tuscaloosa announced a unionization drive to join the United Auto Workers (UAW).
The announcement came after 1,500 workers, or 30% of the Mercedes-Benz factory workforce, signed union recognition cards. The UAW says the 30 percent threshold is an important milestone necessary for workers to begin publicly campaigning.
Video accompanying the announcement It is characterized by members of the organizing committee publicly expressing their intention to form a union with the UAW.
In the video, employees highlighted their contributions to Mercedes-Benz's success over the past 30 years. They pointed out that “Mercedes executive pay is rising, but Alabama auto workers are falling further behind.” The workers said they decided to join the UAW because of the disadvantages faced by nonunion autoworkers.
“And just like everywhere else, America's non-union autoworkers are treated badly,” the workers said. “That's why more than 1,500 of us at Mercedes, Alabama have signed union cards and joined the United Auto Workers union.”
The announcement comes after the UAW's stand-up strike against the “big three” automakers – General Motors, Stellantis and Ford – resulted in favorable contracts for their workers. Since this historic strike, nonunion autoworkers across the country have begun organizing to join the UAW. Just last month, Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga, Tennessee, also reached the 30% milestone and announced their intention to join the UAW.
Jeremy Kimbrel, a measurement machine operator at Mercedes since 1999, said unionizing will help establish his job at Mercedes as a career job.
“Before, people didn't know if there was a path forward here,” Kimbrel said. “Everyone is coming together now to see what the path is and that is through the unions. If we get unions here, people will look at Mercedes again and realize that this is not just a job, this is a career. It's a job that generations will want to work in. And it's going to spread to suppliers, and it's going to spread even wider.”
From 2020 to 2023, Mercedes vehicle prices rose 31%, while worker wages remained stagnant. At the Tuscaloosa plant, employees build the Mercedes GLE, GLE Coupe, GLS model series, and his EQE and EQS all-electric SUVs.
Derrick Todd, who has worked at Mercedes since 2005, said his current salary is not enough, even though the company continues to make record profits.
“In the past, you could live off your salary here,'' Todd says. “We reached the top in two years. Now some people go through temp agencies for years before they even get on the pay scale. Every year, the company says it's making record profits and sales, but we… salaries are not keeping up with it. It's time to set things right. It's time to have our voices heard.”
Moesha Chandler, an assembly team member who started working at Mercedes in January 2023, shared her experience living paycheck to paycheck.
“I feel like I'm living to work when I should be working to live,” Chandler said. “I started working as a temp, making $17.50 an hour. I'm now full-time and still living off my paycheck. If I shop, it's for work clothes, not for play. If we had a union, we would feel more protected, we would feel more secure. We wouldn't feel like we're gazelles to lions.”
Unionization efforts aim to bring about positive change for workers. Mercedes team leader Jim Spitzley believes the union will ensure fair treatment of workers.
“When Mercedes opened up, it was Alabama's shining three-point star,” Spitzley said. “That star has dimmed. I've been here 27 years and morale has steadily declined. Even when I started working, I spent 15 years rotating shifts and spending time with my kids. I've missed a lot of time. I'm working back-to-back now, but when the new model comes out I'll be able to work 12 out of 13 weekends. I need a voice to turn things around. Union is our voice, so that new people coming in are treated fairly. That's how we end the second tier.”
Although Alabama is a right-to-work state, there has recently been significant effort to unionize and advocate for worker rights across the state. This latest announcement could encourage more employees, and not just the auto industry, to do the same.
