Workers at U.S. Mercedes Plant Form UAW Local

Employees of Mercedes-Benz’s vehicle assembly plant near Tuscaloosa, AL announced Friday evening they had formed a new UAW local and were recruiting members.

They were joined at a press conference by U.S. and German labor leaders, including Michael Brecht, vice chairman of the Daimler AG Supervisory Board, the parent of Mercedes; Joerg Hofmann, vice president of IG Metall, a major European union that represents more than 2 million blue- and white-collar workers in the automotive and machine tool industries, as well as UAW President Dennis Williams and other top UAW officials.

The UAW tried to organize Volkswagen’s plant in Tennessee earlier this year but was unsuccessful.

Alabama is a major auto-producing state, with large Honda and Hyundai assembly plants and numerous auto suppliers in addition to the Mercedes-Benz U.S. International plant in Tuscaloosa County.

MBUSI is the only Daimler plant in the world that does not currently offer employee representation union officials say.

Organized by MBUSI employees, the new UAW Local 112 will represent any interested workers who join the local as members. No employees will be required to join. Williams emphasizes that workers who sign up will not be charged dues until after a bargaining agreement is officially signed.

“It’s time for the committed and hard-working employees at MBUSI to have the same representation that Daimler employees enjoy around the world,” Williams says.

The UAW already represents nearly 7,000 workers at Daimler plants in the U.S., including Daimler Trucks North America facilities in North Carolina.

 “We are asking Daimler to respect our right to representation and give the same opportunities to Alabama’s working families that have been extended to our counterparts elsewhere in the U.S. and around the world,” says Rodney Bowens, who works in quality control at the MBUSI body and paint shops. “Our hope is that management will recognize the importance of today’s announcement and welcome our new local union into the Daimler family.”

Mercedes-Benz could not be reached for comment on Friday evening.

The announcement of the new local comes as Mercedes ramps up production of its popular C-Class cars at the plant.

Until now the Tuscaloosa plant, founded in 1995, has solely produced SUVs and CUVs for North America and export markets.

The Alabama plant started production in 1997 with the original body-on-frame M-Class and was joined later by Mercedes GL- and R-Class models. Last year, the plant manufactured more than 185,000 vehicles with more than 3,000 employees.

Mercedes is promising to “significantly” increase output with the new C-Class and another new model in 2015, based on the Concept SUV Coupe, unveiled at the Beijing Auto Show earlier this year.

The new C-Class, introduced at the North American International Auto Show in January, is Mercedes’ highest-volume model and is the first to be produced on four continents.

[email protected]