Gov. Kay Ivey criticizes effort to form union at Tuscaloosa Mercedes-Benz plant
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Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey has strongly criticized efforts to organize a union for workers at the Mercedes-Benz factory in Tuscaloosa County.
The state’s success in automotive manufacturing has been achieved “the Alabama way,” without a unionized workforce, Ivey said in an opinion column posted earlier this month on the Alabama Department of Commerce website.
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"Unfortunately, the Alabama model for economic success is under attack,” Ivey said. “A national labor union, the United Automotive Workers, is ramping up efforts to target non-union automakers throughout the United States, including ours here in Alabama.”
According to the Associated Press, after reaching contract agreements with Detroit automakers in late 2023, the UAW said it planned to organize nearly 150,000 workers at more than a dozen nonunion auto factories, largely in the South, where the union has had little success in recruiting new members.
“You don’t have to live paycheck to paycheck,” union President Shawn Fain said in a statement appealing to nonunion workers, according to AP. “You don’t have to worry about how you’re going to pay your rent or feed your family while the company makes billions. A better life is out there.”
On Jan. 10, the UAW said in a news release that more than 30% of the Tuscaloosa Mercedes-Benz plant’s workforce had signed union authorization cards, a significant step toward forming a union.
Ivey called the UAW an out-of-state special interest group that doesn’t represent the best interests of Alabama’s automotive workers.
“Alabamians work harder than anyone, we make the best automobiles in the world, and we must not let UAW tell us differently,” she said.
Meanwhile, a statement from Mercedes-Benz U.S. International issued after UAW’s Jan. 10 announcement sounded a more conciliatory tone toward the unionization efforts.
“Mercedes-Benz U.S. International has a strong record of success over the past 25-plus years operating as one team in Alabama,” the statement said. “Central to our success is our positive team culture that includes an open-door policy. MBUSI has a proven record of competitively compensating team members and providing many additional benefits.
“We believe open and direct communication with our team members is the best path forward to ensure continued success. Whether to unionize is our team members’ decision, and MBUSI will respect whatever is decided.”
The MBUSI plant, which is in the Tuscaloosa County city of Vance, employs about 6,300 workers and produces a half-dozen models, including the GLE and GLS SUVs.
In a comment provided by the union, Jim Spitzley, a team leader at Mercedes, said that “When Mercedes opened up, it was the shining three-point star of Alabama. That star has gone out. I’ve been here 27 years and the morale has been steady in the downward direction.” Spitzley said he has missed lots of time with his family over the years and can still work 12 of 13 weekends when a new model comes out even though he’s now on “straight days.”
The Tuscaloosa facility was founded in 1995 as the first major Mercedes-Benz plant outside Germany.
Ivey called that move “... a decision that changed the future of our state like no one could have imagined.”
Since 1997, about four million vehicles have been produced at the Tuscaloosa plant.
In her column, Ivey detailed Alabama’s automotive industry successes. She said a host of automotive suppliers followed after Mercedes built the Tuscaloosa plant.
She also said that Mercedes’ arrival lured other automakers to Alabama:
Honda began producing vehicles in Lincoln in 2001
Hyundai production in Montgomery began in 2005
Toyota started manufacturing engines in Huntsville in 2003
In 2018, Toyota announced a joint venture partnership with Mazda to form Mazda Toyota Manufacturing in Limestone County.
Ivey said nearly 50,000 Alabamians work in the automotive manufacturing sector.
“Today, all of that investment equates to a 1.3 million annual vehicle production capacity; more than $9 billion in annual exports; production of 15 different cars, SUVs and trucks, including three cutting-edge, all-electric vehicles; and it ranks Alabama the No. 3 state for vehicle exports and the No. 5 state for total auto production,” Ivey said.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Alabama governor rips effort to unionize Tuscaloosa Mercedes' plant
