UAW Leader: Mercedes Alabama UAW Election Could File “Any Day Now” (Listen & Read)

Mercedes workers in Vance have tried to unionize for nearly 25 years, but they have never come this close. For the first time in plant history, Mercedes workers hit 50% early last month.
“I came in 1998. They had a campaign going on that was gathering traction. And they just couldn’t get to 50%,” says Kirk Garner, a leader in the current union effort there. “They get fairly near. But they couldn’t get over the hump. So they ended the campaign. So for the last 20 years, we’ve tried small campaigns to see if there was any interest, but we just couldn’t get over the hump.

Now, following the success of the “Stand Up Strike,” union activists are gaining traction in their efforts to organize at Mercedes. In February, they claimed that the majority of the plant’s workers had signed union cards.

“The big three received a really good deal, so people down here were thrilled and began to organize. Garner responds, “So we’re organizing right now.”
Not only does the UAW have a renewed sense of organizing vigor, but they are also utilizing modern digital tools to aid in their efforts.

“They’ve adopted tactics that grassroots online organizing (is) using that it’s not so many staffers on the ground now as much as handing out QR codes and signing people up online and things like that,” Garner said. “The UAW has been slow to implement this shift. And after the new management arrived at UAW, they welcomed modern philosophy and social media.”