This Isn’t the End for Mercedes Workers’ Union Fight
Opposed by management and politicians at every turn, Alabama Mercedes workers lost their union election yesterday. It’s a real setback — but the Mercedes workers say they won’t stop organizing until they get a union.
UAW autoworkers picket outside a Ford plant in the early morning hours of October 14, 2023, in Louisville, Kentucky. (Michael Swensen / Getty Images)
A no-holds-barred campaign by Mercedes management convinced a majority of workers at its Alabama factory complex to vote against forming a union.
In addition to anti-union videos and mailings, captive-audience meetings, firings, and an onslaught of pressure from state politicians and even a local pastor, the winning move was to fire the company’s US CEO and replace him with a vice president who promised to care about the “team members.”
A team leader named Ray Trammell, who voted “no,” said his area was 100 percent union before the former CEO was removed. “[New CEO] Federico [Kochlowski] has been a positive influence,” he said. “A lot of people want to give him a chance. It was all production-driven before him; he’s more about the team members. He’s willing to change.
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