MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) - Gov. Kay Ivey says unions are targeting Alabama’s automobile industry, and she says she wants to prevent that from happening.þþBut some auto workers appear to be interested in the union effort workers, as the Mercedes-Benz plant outside Tuscaloosa announced a campaign to join the national labor union United Automotive Workers.þþAlabama is one of the top five automotive manufacturing states with Mercedes-Benz, Honda, Hyundai, Toyota, and Mazda all operating within the state. Ivey says the workers are “highly skilled and highly paid.”þþBut a November 2023 tudy from Alabama Arise finds the opposite. The nonprofit reports that wages for Alabama auto workers were 11% lower in 2019 than in 2002.þþ“The increase in turnover has been substantial. According to interviews I conducted, people coming in nowadays just don’t view that is where they’re going to spend their entire career,” said Dev Wakeley with Alabama Arise.þþIn response to workforce conditions, this month over 30% of workers at the Tuscaloosa Mercedes plant signed union authorization cards. This is an important step to form a union with the United Automotive Workers, UAW.þþ“Becoming a unionized facility means that these workers will have a voice in the operations of the facility and the way that they’re treated in their pay and their benefits and their disciplinary processes,” said Wakeley.þþIn a recent op-ed, Ivey said the Alabama model for economic success is under attack. The governor wrote, “We may soon face another watershed decision when the U-A-W asks nearly 50,000 Alabamians: Do you want continued opportunity and success the Alabama way? Or do want out-of-state special interests telling Alabama how to do business? For me, the choice is clear.”þþ“If you rebuild an industry where people know they can get paid well enough to provide for everything that their family needs, folks will stay there for decades,” said Wakeley.þþIvey says she will “continue to make education, workforce development, and economic development my top priorities. Alabamians work harder than anyone, we make the best automobiles in the world, and we must not let UAW tell us differently.”þþWSFA 12 News has reached out to United Automotive Workers for a comment but we haven’t heard back.
Source: wsfa.com
