UAW Comes Up Short, At Tuscaloosa Mercedes Plant…

Many union advocates were hopeful after the UAW won resoundingly at a Volkswagon facility in Tennessee last month.

But the UAW had lost in this same Mercedes plant just three years ago, and multiple times previously -- over the last two decades, as well. And so it goes -- but it serms each plant's union election (especially in the South) is driven by various disparate factors, often unique to the locale:

. . .The National Labor Relations Board, which oversaw the election, said 2,045 workers (44%) voted for the union, while 2,642 workers (56%) voted against it. . . .

The vote at Mercedes, whose arrival in Alabama in 1993 is credited with creating the state’s automotive industry, was the first defeat for organized labor after a string of victories.

Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga, Tennessee voted to unionize in April. UAW won a major strike against the Big Three automakers last year, and secured a contract with 25% wage increases at Daimler Truck earlier this month. . . .

Now you know. Onward -- and a grinning goodnight, to all of good will, after some chalkboard tic-tac-toe.

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