Thirty percent of the workers at Hyundai’s only plant in the United States (in Alabama) are members of the United Auto Workers union.
The announcement marks the third such public union drive at the automaker in the Southeast.
And it marks another step in the UAW’s push into a region where big business and state governments have worked together for decades to keep unions out.
In a statement to the press, Hyundai employees claimed the work was taking a toll on their health and quality of life due to inadequate pay.
One worker complained of being prosecuted for missing work to attend his son’s basketball game, while others said they were repeatedly forced to work while suffering from debilitating chronic injuries. .
“I was nearing retirement and the company literally beat me to the punch,” said Drena Smith, who has worked in the painting department for nearly 20 years.
“We need that compensation when we retire. It’s not just discounts on cakes and cars that we can’t afford because we don’t have any income anymore. We need real retirement, and we need to win unions.”
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (R) called the organizers an opportunistic “out-of-state special interest group.”
“Alabama has become a national leader in auto manufacturing, and all of this was accomplished without union organizing. In other words, our success is homegrown, done the Alabama way.” Mr. Ivy I have written In an article posted on the state Department of Commerce’s site in early January.
“Unfortunately, Alabama’s model of economic success is under attack,” she added, referring to the upcoming union election.
The UAW’s announcement in Alabama comes amid a widespread campaign as the union seeks to build on its victories in simultaneous strikes last year against the Big Three automakers Ford, General Motors and Stellantis. Ta.
The movement won higher wages and workplace reforms from major corporations in America’s old auto capital. Sean Fein, the UAW’s pugnacious leader, claimed he could bring it nationwide.
Just one week after the Big Three agreement, unions declared the intention It’s a move into new territory: the 150,000 autoworkers working in foreign-owned factories in the non-union South.
In December, UAW activity at the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, affected 30 percent of the workforce. The struggle for mass organization of the factories has reached its threshold.
And in January, workers at a Mercedes-Benz facility in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, similarly complained of stagnant wages and chronic injuries at a company where profits are soaring.
In an official statement released by the UAW, workers at those plants foreshadowed the complaints received from Hyundai workers on Thursday. I was deprived of time with my family, my wages were not commensurate with the cost of living, and I was repeatedly injured due to my work.
The UAW claims that more than 10,000 workers at non-union factories have signed union cards in “recent months,” but that this happened in the face of an anti-union campaign by management. ing.
Hyundai factory workers complained The company told the National Labor Review Board that management was “threatening, restraining, and coercing” employees from exercising their right to organize.
At Hyundai, workers alleged that their bosses prohibited them from distributing pro-union literature in the break room and confiscated union pamphlets.
They also claimed that Hyundai surveyed workers about their support for unions (the NLRB supports this) prohibit In most situations.
These complaints also mirror similar complaints in: Volkswagen plant in Tennessee and indiana honda factory.
In January, more than 30 Democratic senators called on southern automakers to remain neutral in the push for workers to unionize.
One Hyundai worker told reporters that he is pushing to form a union for the sake of the next generation.
“My oldest son works at the General Assembly (GA) plant,” said Dwayne Naylor, who works in quality control at an auto body shop.
“I spent 14 years in Georgia, and I know what living there does to your body,” Naylor added.
“We don’t want the younger generation to go through what we did.”
Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
