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UAW asks NLRB to reject Mercedes vote results, order new election

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UAW asks NLRB to reject Mercedes vote results, order new election

The United Auto Workers asked federal officials Friday to reject the results of last week’s failed Mercedes-Benz unionization vote and order a new election.

The Detroit union wants the National Labor Relations Board to void the organizing election the union lost last week at the Mercedes complex in Vance, Alabama — a vote that was a blow to the UAW’s nationwide autoworker organizing campaign after unionizing Volkswagen AG’s plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in April. The UAW is calling for a new election at Mercedes on the grounds that the German automaker fired four pro-union workers and allowed anti-union employees to solicit support on company time while barring union supporters from doing the same, among other discriminatory actions.

After a five-day election last week, 56% of workers at the Mercedes plant voted against unionizing with the UAW.

More: UAW loses organizing vote at Mercedes in Alabama

Kayla Blado, a spokesperson for the NLRB, confirmed that its Region 10-Atlanta office received the UAW’s three-page filing objecting to the election.

“The Regional Director will review the objections and could order a hearing over them,” Blado said in a statement. “If the Regional Director finds that the employer’s conduct affected the election, she can order a new election.”

The NLRB is also investigating six unfair labor practice charges filed by the UAW since March. The charges allege Mercedes disciplined workers for talking about unionization at work, prevented distribution of union materials and made statements against the union.

The UAW said in a Friday statement that “over 2,000 Mercedes workers voted yes to win their union after an unprecedented, illegal anti-union campaign waged against them by their employer. What that tells us is that in a fair fight, where Mercedes is held accountable to following the law, workers will win their union. All these workers ever wanted was a fair shot at having a voice on the job and a say in their working conditions. And that’s what we’re asking for here. Let’s get a vote at Mercedes in Alabama where the company isn’t allowed to fire people, isn’t allowed to intimidate people, and isn’t allowed to break the law and their own corporate code, and let the workers decide.”

Kirk Garner, a 26-year Mercedes employee who has worked on unionizing the plant since 2000, agreed with all of the objections.

“What do these objections mean for us going forward, well we might get another election out of it,” he said in a statement. “The company might not be able to change wages, benefits and working conditions. We could probably file for another in April of next year before all this goes to court.”

Garner added: “The company is going to blame the UAW and say they were ready to improve conditions but the UAW filed objections.”

A Mercedes spokesperson responded to the UAW’s filing on Friday with this statement: “Over 90 percent of Mercedes-Benz U.S. International (MBUSI) Team Members made their voices heard through a secret-ballot vote and the majority indicated they are not interested in being represented by the UAW for purposes of collective bargaining. Our goal throughout this process was to ensure every eligible Team Member had the opportunity to participate in a fair election. We sincerely hoped the UAW would respect our Team Members’ decision. Throughout the election, we worked with the NLRB to adhere to its guidelines and we will continue to do so as we work through this process.”

It’s not uncommon for unfair labor practice charges to be filed around an election, experts said. The NLRB did not immediately have comprehensive data on re-run elections, but they have happened in recent years, including in Alabama. Workers at an Arizona warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama, received a new election in 2022 after labor officials ruled the company’s anti-union campaign affected the results of a vote the union lost in 2021, NPR reported. Because of challenged ballots, that second vote has remained undecided.

Whether the NLRB takes up a challenge, though, can be affected by who is in the White House.

“It depends on whether it’s a Republican or Democrat in power and who is appointed on the committee,” said Art Wheaton, an automotive industry specialist at Cornell University’s Industrial and Labor Relations School who has done training for automakers like General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co. as well as the UAW. “Under the current administration, it’s a little bit more pro-union than the previous administration. There’s specific intent under the NLRB to give more of an even playing field for the union. They’re more proactive to give the workers the opportunity to share their voice if people were blocked from voting or expressing their true intent.”

Given comments coming from Alabama politicians, the number of flyers and commercials around the vote and captive audience meetings with employees, Wheaton said the charges are more than a formality. Filing them also could support the UAW’s charges against Mercedes in Germany alleging the company violated a new law on global supply chain practices.

Dan Gilmore, a labor attorney who also teaches classes on labor law at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, said in a statement that the alleged conduct by Mercedes is “in very sharp contrast to the lack of opposition that VW provided prior to each of the elections involving that automaker, especially the first one in 2014. The allegations described in the objections include some classic conduct that has, in prior cases, resulted in the setting aside of elections and the ordering of new elections.”

The union’s move to seek another vote at Mercedes is consistent with the UAW’s actions and $40 million organizing campaign of nonunion autoworkers, said Marc Robinson, principal of consultancy MSR Strategy and a former GM internal consultant who was involved in labor negotiations. Still, even if the NLRB called for a second election, there may not be a high likelihood of the union winning it.

Filing the charges, even if unsuccessful, still communicates to others that the union is willing to put up a fight. Leaders might even be happy, Robinson said, if there isn’t another second election as another loss would produce another of round of bad headlines for the UAW.

“It obviously was a massive setback,” he said of the loss. “They really can’t afford a second consecutive defeat. They would want to be a fairly confident at least for this particular round of organization.”

khall@detroitnews.com

@bykaleahall

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