DETROIT \u2014 The United Auto Workers union is challenging the results of last week\u2019s organizing vote of\u00a0Mercedes-Benz\u00a0workers in Alabama, in which\u00a0workers voted against\u00a0union representation, and is asking federal officials to order a new election.<\/p>\n
Among a dozen or so claims, the Detroit union alleges that the German automaker fired four pro-union workers, forced workers to attend anti-union meetings, and interfered with workers\u2019 ability to advocate for the union.<\/p>\n
Union organizing failed at the Alabama plant with 56% of the vote, or 2,642 workers, casting ballots against the UAW, according to the NLRB, which oversaw the election. More than 90% of the 5,075 eligible Mercedes-Benz workers voted in the election.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll these workers ever wanted was a fair shot at having a voice on the job and a say in their working conditions,\u201d the UAW said in a statement. \u201cAnd that\u2019s what we\u2019re asking for here. Let\u2019s get a vote at Mercedes in Alabama where the company isn\u2019t allowed to fire people, isn\u2019t allowed to intimidate people, and isn\u2019t allowed to break the law and their own corporate code, and let the workers decide.\u201d<\/p>\n
The National Labor Relations Board confirmed Friday afternoon that its Atlanta-based office received the UAW\u2019s objections to the election. Friday was the last day the union could file objections and challenge the election.<\/p>\n
Mercedes-Benz in a statement Friday said company officials \u201cworked with the NLRB to adhere to its guidelines and we will continue to do so\u201d through the objection process. The automaker said it \u201csincerely hoped the UAW would respect our Team Members\u2019 decision.\u201d<\/p>\n
The NLRB said its regional director will review the UAW\u2019s allegations of an unfair election. If she finds that the objections raise substantial and material issues of fact that could be best resolved by a hearing, she will order a hearing. If after the hearing, she finds that the employer\u2019s conduct affected the election, she can order a new election.<\/p>\n
The agency also reconfirmed that it is processing and investigating unfair labor practice charges filed by the UAW against automakers, including six unfair labor practice charges against Mercedes-Benz since March.<\/p>\n
After the results were announced, UAW President\u00a0Shawn Fain\u00a0accused the company of conducting an anti-union campaign, including \u201cegregious illegal behavior,\u201d but he declined to discuss the union\u2019s potential plans to object to the results.<\/p>\n
Fain said on May 17 that the union would continue to move forward with its charges against Mercedes-Benz, which allege that Mercedes-Benz has \u201cdisciplined employees for discussing unionization at work, prohibited distribution of union materials and paraphernalia, surveilled employees, discharged union supporters, forced employees to attend captive audience meetings, and made statements suggesting that union activity is futile,\u201d the NLRB previously said.<\/p>\n
The Alabama results were a blow to the UAW\u2019s organizing efforts a month after it won an\u00a0organizing drive\u00a0of roughly 4,330 Volkswagen plant workers in Tennessee.<\/p>\n
The Mercedes-Benz vote was expected to be more challenging for the union than the vote at the Volkswagen plant in Tennessee, where the union had already established a presence after two failed organizing drives in the past decade and where it faced less opposition from the automaker.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
DETROIT \u2014 The United Auto Workers union is challenging the results of last week\u2019s organizing vote of\u00a0Mercedes-Benz\u00a0workers in Alabama, in which\u00a0workers voted against\u00a0union representation, and is asking federal officials to order a new election. Among a dozen or so claims, the Detroit union alleges that the German automaker fired four pro-union workers, forced workers to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":4886,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4885"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4885\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}