(Michigan News Source) – Wednesday night the UAW announced its commitment to deliver $40 million through 2026 in new organizing funds for non-union autoworkers and battery workers across the country, but especially in the South.
“The UAW International Executive Board voted Tuesday to commit the funds in response to an explosion in organizing activity among non-union auto and battery workers, in order to meet the moment and grow the labor movement,” the UAW said in a statement.
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The announcement comes after workers at Volkswagen in Tennessee, Hyundai workers in Alabama, and Mercedes employees in Alabama have been exploring unionizing.
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In a Facebook Live Update from mid-January, UAW President Shawn Fain shared how non-union members, including those working for Mercedes in Vance, Alabama, signed up to join the auto union, becoming the second non-union auto plant to hit that milestone at that time.
“These workers at Alabama are just like us,” Fain shared on the Facebook Live, “They work for a massively profitable auto company, they build cars for a living, they have families to support, and they want safe decent jobs, with the respect and dignity owed to working class people who generate the profits our society runs on.”
The Facebook announcement also addressed the Governor, Kay Ivey (R-Alabama) who criticized the workers’ decision and the motives of the UAW.
“Make no mistake about it: These are out-of-state special interest groups, and their special interests do not include Alabama or the men and women earning a career in Alabama’s automotive industry,” said. Gov. Ivey in a statement.
UAW President criticized Alabama’s Governor saying, “I say the out of state special interest group is the foreign car company that takes millions in tax-payer dollars to pay poverty wages to American workers, and I say the Governor of Alabama knows that, but keeps it quiet to keep the big dollar contributions from foreign automakers flowing into her campaign fund,” UAW Shawn Fain said on the livestream.
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