THE United Autoworkers union in the US is pushing ahead with its massive organising campaign in non-union US auto and auto supply chain companies with over 10,000 non-union workers signing union cards demanding a ballot on union membership and collective bargaining under US labour laws.
Coming on the back of the union winning significant pay rises and improvements to working conditions and pensions at the Big Three US car manufacturers — Ford, GM and Stellantis — workers at Volkswagen in Chattanooga, Hyundai in Montgomery and Toyota in Troy, Missouri, as well as workers at over 20 other auto and supply chain plants and facilities are joining the union.
The biggest development is at Mercedes Benz in Vance, Alabama, where the UAW is using new German legislation against Mercedes to stop anti-union activities.
Corporate due diligence obligations in supply chains legislation introduced in Germany in 2023 sets the standards for global supply chains that German-based companies must adhere to and that prohibit companies from disregarding workers’ rights to join trade unions.
The two US Mercedes plants are the only ones in the world that do not have union representation.
Workers at Mercedes say they are facing aggressive anti-union activity by the company including intimidation, threats of job losses, and being forced to attend anti-union meetings not just with plant bosses but with outsiders including one with a football coach and one worker — a cancer patient who needs a mobile phone with him to take a call if a scarce chemo drug was available — was sacked when his supervisor told him he was violating company policy.
The UAW says Mercedes are also breaking their own written principles of social responsibility and human rights which state that the company will remain neutral in union organising campaigns to let employees make their own choice.
If found guilty under German law, Mercedes-Benz faces billions of dollars in penalties, including significant fines and bans on government contracts.
Tony Burke is co-chair of the Campaign For Trade Union Freedom.
