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Workers at Mercedes-Benz’s largest U.S. plant have filed multiple federal charges with the National Labor Relations Board over allegations that the German company is using aggressive and illegal union-busting. tactics Workers are requesting an injunction to put an end to the company’s retaliation against workers In February, Mercedes workers announced that a majority of their coworkers at the Mercedes plant in Vance had signed union authorization cards. Every Mercedes plant in the world is unionized—except the company’s two plants in the United States. The powerful German automotive trade union IG Metall has thus far not publicly commented.
“Since we started organizing, I put in my FMLA leave with management multiple times and every time they said they lost the paperwork,” said Lakeisha Carter, a Mercedes employee in the battery plant. “I’m an outspoken union supporter and Mercedes illegally disciplined me for medical absences that were clearly covered by my FMLA requests. It’s just plain retaliation from Mercedes, but I’m not going to be intimidated.”
“Mercedes-Benz U.S. International (MBUSI) has not interfered with or retaliated against any Team Member in their right to pursue union representation. We do not believe these claims have merit and we look forward to presenting our case to the NLRB. Following the UAW’s nationwide campaign to increase its membership, MBUSI wants to ensure its team members make an informed decision. MBUSI has a strong record of success over the past 25+ years operating as One Team in Alabama. Central to our success is our positive team culture that includes an open-door policy. MBUSI has a proven record of competitively compensating Team Members and providing many additional benefits. We believe open and direct communication with our Team Members is the best path forward to ensure continued success,” a Mercedes-Benz spokesperson told AutoInformed.
In February, the U.S. Department of Labor recovered $438,625 in back wages, unpaid bonuses, and damages for two former workers at the Mercedes plant in Vance after management violated their rights to protected leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act.
Investigators with the department’s Wage and Hour Division found Mercedes-Benz U.S. International Inc. illegally fired two production workers after they requested to use FMLA-protected leave. One employee requested the leave for a qualifying health condition of a family member, and another worker did so for a personal serious health condition. The employer further discriminated against workers when it reprimanded them and denied monthly attendance bonuses because of absences, which led to termination under the employer’s point system, even though the leave was protected in both cases.
The division’s investigators determined Mercedes also failed to:
- Inform employees that they may be eligible for FMLA leave within five business days of learning their requests could qualify.
- Reinstate workers to the same or equivalent positions.
- Accurately record, maintain and calculate the amount of FMLA leave taken.
- Provide notice of FMLA rights and responsibilities, as required by law.
- Designate leave as FMLA-qualifying when appropriate.
“Employers cannot deprive eligible workers of their legal right to family and medical leave and force them to make the hard choice between keeping their jobs and caring for themselves or their families,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Kenneth Stripling in Birmingham, Alabama at that time. “Federal law allows for critically needed workplace flexibilities precisely when employees need them the most. The U.S. Department of Labor will defend workers’ rights and pursue all available remedies when those rights are violated.”
Al Ezell, a public union supporter in the Mercedes battery plant, has stage 4 lung cancer and supply chain issues have made it difficult for him to receive his medication. Al was given permission to have his phone on the factory floor in case his doctor called him about refilling his prescription.
“Management called me into the office to discipline me for having my phone on the floor. My manager looked me in the face and told me she didn’t care that I have cancer or that I had permission, she was going to enforce the company’s zero tolerance policy,” said Ezell. “We’ve never had a zero-tolerance policy for having a phone on the floor. Management is just trying to scare us, but we won’t back down.”
“Mercedes is forcing me and my coworkers to attend meetings and watch anti-union videos that are full of lies,” said Taylor Snipes, another worker in the Mercedes battery plant. “I finally had enough and asked my group leader if I had to watch the video and he treated me like a child, telling me I either had to watch the video or put my head down on the desk.”
Later that day, Mr. Snipes was called into a meeting with Mercedes management and immediately fired for having his phone on the factory floor. Snipes had previously been given permission to have his phone on the floor so he could check for messages from his child’s day care center.
“During the meeting, I told management that it was suspicious that I was being called into the office on the same day that I spoke up in anti-union meeting,” said Snipes. “My manager said the two had nothing to do with one another, but then proceeded to aggressively interrogate me about why I support having a union.”
Mercedes workers are part of the national movement of non-union autoworkers organizing to join the UAW in the wake of the historic Stand Up Strike victory at the Big Three auto companies. More than10,000 non-union autoworkers have signed union cards in recent months, with public campaigns launched at Mercedes, Volkswagen in Chattanooga, Tenn., Hyundai in Montgomery, Ala., and Toyota in Troy, Mo. Workers at over two dozen other facilities are also actively organizing. For more information, visit uaw.org/join.
AutoInformed on
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.
Workers File Union Busting Charges Against Mercedes-Benz
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Workers at Mercedes-Benz’s largest U.S. plant have filed multiple federal charges with the National Labor Relations Board over allegations that the German company is using aggressive and illegal union-busting. tactics Workers are requesting an injunction to put an end to the company’s retaliation against workers In February, Mercedes workers announced that a majority of their coworkers at the Mercedes plant in Vance had signed union authorization cards. Every Mercedes plant in the world is unionized—except the company’s two plants in the United States. The powerful German automotive trade union IG Metall has thus far not publicly commented.
“Since we started organizing, I put in my FMLA leave with management multiple times and every time they said they lost the paperwork,” said Lakeisha Carter, a Mercedes employee in the battery plant. “I’m an outspoken union supporter and Mercedes illegally disciplined me for medical absences that were clearly covered by my FMLA requests. It’s just plain retaliation from Mercedes, but I’m not going to be intimidated.”
“Mercedes-Benz U.S. International (MBUSI) has not interfered with or retaliated against any Team Member in their right to pursue union representation. We do not believe these claims have merit and we look forward to presenting our case to the NLRB. Following the UAW’s nationwide campaign to increase its membership, MBUSI wants to ensure its team members make an informed decision. MBUSI has a strong record of success over the past 25+ years operating as One Team in Alabama. Central to our success is our positive team culture that includes an open-door policy. MBUSI has a proven record of competitively compensating Team Members and providing many additional benefits. We believe open and direct communication with our Team Members is the best path forward to ensure continued success,” a Mercedes-Benz spokesperson told AutoInformed.
In February, the U.S. Department of Labor recovered $438,625 in back wages, unpaid bonuses, and damages for two former workers at the Mercedes plant in Vance after management violated their rights to protected leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act.
Investigators with the department’s Wage and Hour Division found Mercedes-Benz U.S. International Inc. illegally fired two production workers after they requested to use FMLA-protected leave. One employee requested the leave for a qualifying health condition of a family member, and another worker did so for a personal serious health condition. The employer further discriminated against workers when it reprimanded them and denied monthly attendance bonuses because of absences, which led to termination under the employer’s point system, even though the leave was protected in both cases.
The division’s investigators determined Mercedes also failed to:
“Employers cannot deprive eligible workers of their legal right to family and medical leave and force them to make the hard choice between keeping their jobs and caring for themselves or their families,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Kenneth Stripling in Birmingham, Alabama at that time. “Federal law allows for critically needed workplace flexibilities precisely when employees need them the most. The U.S. Department of Labor will defend workers’ rights and pursue all available remedies when those rights are violated.”
Al Ezell, a public union supporter in the Mercedes battery plant, has stage 4 lung cancer and supply chain issues have made it difficult for him to receive his medication. Al was given permission to have his phone on the factory floor in case his doctor called him about refilling his prescription.
“Management called me into the office to discipline me for having my phone on the floor. My manager looked me in the face and told me she didn’t care that I have cancer or that I had permission, she was going to enforce the company’s zero tolerance policy,” said Ezell. “We’ve never had a zero-tolerance policy for having a phone on the floor. Management is just trying to scare us, but we won’t back down.”
“Mercedes is forcing me and my coworkers to attend meetings and watch anti-union videos that are full of lies,” said Taylor Snipes, another worker in the Mercedes battery plant. “I finally had enough and asked my group leader if I had to watch the video and he treated me like a child, telling me I either had to watch the video or put my head down on the desk.”
Later that day, Mr. Snipes was called into a meeting with Mercedes management and immediately fired for having his phone on the factory floor. Snipes had previously been given permission to have his phone on the floor so he could check for messages from his child’s day care center.
“During the meeting, I told management that it was suspicious that I was being called into the office on the same day that I spoke up in anti-union meeting,” said Snipes. “My manager said the two had nothing to do with one another, but then proceeded to aggressively interrogate me about why I support having a union.”
Mercedes workers are part of the national movement of non-union autoworkers organizing to join the UAW in the wake of the historic Stand Up Strike victory at the Big Three auto companies. More than10,000 non-union autoworkers have signed union cards in recent months, with public campaigns launched at Mercedes, Volkswagen in Chattanooga, Tenn., Hyundai in Montgomery, Ala., and Toyota in Troy, Mo. Workers at over two dozen other facilities are also actively organizing. For more information, visit uaw.org/join.
AutoInformed on
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.