Workers at the Mercedes-Benz U.S. International plants in Tuscaloosa voted against joining the United Auto Workers union in a vote that ended May 17th.
The National Labor Relations Board said workers voted 2,642 to 2,045 against unionizing, according to press reports. About 5,075 workers at the plants — Mercedes-Benz U.S. International in Vance and a nearby battery plant — were eligible to vote.
UAW was trying to unionize its first auto factories in Alabama. The union has made a push recently into the South. In April, employees at a Volkswagen factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee, voted to join the UAW.
The vote followed a slew of pro-union and anti-union messaging from various sources, including Gov. Kay Ivey, who warned that unionization could be harmful to economic development in the state.
