Let me see your papers, er, union card – all of you.
The labor wars in the Southern U.S. are intensifying with the help of a powerful German union. Mercedes-Benz employees and the UAW, “with support from the Daimler World Employee Committee and the German automotive trade union IG Metall,” announced yesterday the formation of UAW Local 112 to represent workers at the assembly plant in Vance, Alabama, which is just outside of Tuscaloosa.
The strategy that is emerging is a long-term UAW play involving pressure from IG Metall on German automakers to recognize unions in the “right to work” Southern U.S. AutoInformed bets that coming soon will be a similar deal at the BMW plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina.
This latest unionization attempt follows the semi-failure of the UAW’s attempt to organize the Volkswagen plant in Tennessee this past February. This is the only VW plant in the world without a works council and union representation at the Board level. As a compromise, a union was formed and a new SUV will be built in an expansion of this plant, but participation in what is now UAW Local 42 is claimed to be voluntary. There are no dues, at least so far. Last February, workers at the plant narrowly voted 712 to 626 against the union. It looks like the union will eventually prevail here after years of failure and outright hostility from Southern politicians.
How the UAW organizes Japanese and Korean U.S. plants in the American South is not as clear. Japanese unions are weak and closely aligned with management. Korean unions, much feistier, have no real ties to the UAW.
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, editor and publisher of AutoInformed, is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn.
He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe.
Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped during a downshift and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap.
AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks.
Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.
