U.A.W. Is at It Again - This Time in Alabama
The United Auto Workers Union has led the effort to get Mercedes workers in Alabama to hold a vote to join its union.
Last fall, the union led a strike at the midwestern plants of Ford, Stellantis, and General Motors that largely proved successful. I wrote about that here. The U.A.W. represents about 400,000 active autoworkers in its union.
In late October, after about six weeks, the U.A.W. called off its strike after getting most of what it wanted. The union is now trying to build on its success by moving to other states. And it’s success has been growing. Now, the U.A.W. has helped organize a vote for Mercedes workers in Alabama on whether or not they want to unionize and join the U.A.W.
Workers at a Volkswagen plant in Tennessee voted to unionize in April, and then it got significant pay raises for North Carolina workers at Daimler Trucks later that month.
Notice that those other two examples are also in the South – that’s an important factor here. The Southern states have traditionally been much more anti-union than other states in the nation. Alabama especially represents low wages and compliant workers for businesses. In fact, these two factors have led to pro-union advocates proclaiming “End the Alabama Discount,” as it is represented by this New York Times article that I highly recommend reading.
There are significant ripple effects to the workers’ upcoming vote. For auto workers around the country, the momentum is significantly pro-union in the last year or so. But now that the momentum is also sweeping through the most anti-union region of the country, it’s even more real. And that means it likely wouldn’t stop.
All of this really comes down to one thing: inequality. Regardless of people’s political opinions on unions, which isn’t what SimpMe is about, I think we can all agree that it’s a pretty convincing argument to say that “Executives’ pay has risen by X, meanwhile lower-level workers’ wages have only increased by increase by Y.” And regardless of anyone’s feelings on the right response, that line or argument seems to be working.
Other ripple effects will go well beyond the American auto workers industry. What does this mean for other jobs? And what does it mean for employers’ push into artificial intelligence, which doesn’t require healthcare/dental care and doesn’t unionize?
And what does this do to the American care industry? Last fall, the trio of Ford, Stellantis, and GM stated clearly that workers unionizing would cut into their profits, hurt their ability to manufacture electric cars (which currently have lower profit margins), and help foreign car companies even more. Will this really mean that Americans just start buying more foreign cars because of cheaper prices? And is that especially true in the EV market, given Tesla’s recent struggles?
Stay tuned for more on this issue. It just might affect your life more directly than you realize.