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Mercedes-Benz plant may be first in Alabama to unionize

Mercedes-Benz plant may be first in Alabama to unionize

Posted Mar 28th 2006 6:58PM

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One thing drawing German and Asian automakers to the state of Alabama over others like, say, Michigan, has been the state's lack of organized labor, and for good reason if the strife going on in Detroit these days is any indication. The workers at the Mercedes-Benz plant in Tuscaloosa County, however, might find solidarity and become the first plant in the state to unionize. One unique point is that it's not the United Auto Workers behind the efforts this time (the UAW failed to unionize the plant in 1999 and 2000) -- the organizers belong to the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM). At up to $26.44 an hour, the workers are admittedly not seeking wage increases; rather, the recent cutbacks in health care for retirees, forced overtime, treatment of temporary workers and absence of seniority rights have them seeking representation.

Despite the idea that foreign companies pay well and offer good benefits to avoid a situation in which their workers unionize (or so says Bernard Swiecki of the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor), Mercedes is publicly staying impartial throughout the process.

[Source: The Washington Times via the World Peace Herald]

Category: Plants/Manufacturing, Mercedes-Benz

Tags: uaw, union labor, UnionLabor, unions

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Chet

Unionizing M-B means even poorer car reliability for M-B car owners.

December 27 2006 at 9:09 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Bob

Read the article,it is not about Pay.We have other issues at Mercedes.Line workers at auto plants do not design cars, they put them together. If Ford can not sell cars, do you blame the line workers? Line workers do not have any imput into what the car looks like. The Union does not design cars.

September 23 2006 at 5:23 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

EV Debbs

"... unions only survive by limiting all information, inflicting fear and intimidation on the employees and punishing all those who differ."

Sir, I'd say your comment above reveals either your vicious anti-union attitude or a clear lack of knowledge of the history of unions ... probably both.

What the news tells us these days is rather:

"... corporations / Bush Adminstration / military / only survive by limiting information, inflicting fear and intimidation on the employees and punishing all those who differ."

April 02 2006 at 4:40 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Richard Warren

#27 Corey, that's cool.

Here is an example from wellllll, too far back. I was the parts and service director for 9 stores, our techs were all union IAM members. Our parts departments were non union.

Somehow in the process, they felt like they were getting the short end of the stick (actually they were doing better than most places) They decided to unionize.

I was lucky having been through several NLRB training classes over the years. So we did our going into neutral mode and a little education.

When they put their plan together, we negotiated the pay plan, healthcare, vacations, all of it with the union. The crew accepted it. Their decision.

We then simply lived by the letter of the union contract (the union discourged overtime) we gave no overtime, before there had been. While a couple of folks got the new vacation schedule, others lost a week. Healthcare saw no change, we were paying 100% anyway before. On some items we used to let slide, such as a few minutes late, well guess what, union rules 1 verbal 3 write-ups and you were gone. We were not heavy handed but simply follwed what we should have been doing as managers anyway really.

Fast forward, the initial contract was for one year, it was never renewed. But the choice was made by the employees.

This is why I say, it's not so much the unions as management that causes the supposed union problems.

If you don't negotiate properly, the other side wins, it's no different than with an attorney negotiating a settlement. If you don't take the union works rules and follow them (allowing sub-standard employees to stay) that's not the union employees problem. It's like anything really, negotiating to buy a house, car, legal settlement, pre-nup, building rental, economic development funds, it's negotiation.

If management does not take it's employees to task and make them perform, sorry once again, it's not the union.

If you engineer poor product and expect it to assemble correctly when it can't be, that's not the union either.

If you design product that folks don't like, that's not union. If you pay the top too much, that's management.

If you negotiate a certain speed for the assembly line (dumb move by the way) and then you increase it, well you (management) just put yourself in a position for a strike.

Now I've nothing really negative to say about unions other than this. When you arrive at a certain wage/benefit package it applies to everyone and let's face it some employees are not as good as others, but the overall compensation remains equal. What we've achieved is, AVERAGE and what that really is, is, the best of the best and the worst of the worst.

Look, the only gun the union has is the union, it can be held to anyones head and the trigger pulled, click, click, click. Empty. The only bullet they have is this one, strike and try this figure on for size, 94% of all union contract negotions go forward and are settled without a strike.

Then think about this: You as management, and the board are supposed to have reserves set aside in case you have a strike to get your point across, if you have no plan, no reserves or just think you can go on and OK more more more, well, just look at what happens.

Union or non union, most workers just want to work, get paid, support their family. The very vocal always get heard, not the average worker.

Guys's it's time to stop playing the union anti-union game and think in a much larger sense. The American workers position in a changing world, and it's not as easy as saying get an education. They are many union assembly line workes with a college education, and why do they work there, pretty simple, the money is good or better than what they went to school for.

Something else, the other guys job always looks easier.

March 29 2006 at 5:16 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Corey Ward

Richard,
You're right, my experience with unions is very limited. Thanks though, it was good to see the repsonse from an actual business owner.

March 29 2006 at 4:30 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

John Bryans Fontaine

ORWELLIAN DOUBLETHINK LIE:

"The fact of the matter is that no union effort at ANY transplant manufacturer has ever gotten more than 30% favorable vote. People in the south want to speak for themselves, to have a dialog with their employer. What they don't want is the kind of adversarial relationship every union shop has between workwrs and employer.

Look at the auto industry today. Virtually every plant that is having success and creating jobs in non-union. Virtually every union shop is facing layoffs, givebacks and shutdowns. They can't save jobs and they only make it more likely if you join them you'll lose your job.

People are too smart to vote in a union anywhere in America right now. Why on earth would you?" - Wiggins

REALITY:

Union Labor produces: The Chevy Corvette, The Ford Mustang, The Ford GT, The Dodge Viper, plus every Ferrari, and foreign produced Mercedes, and also every Porsche, and Aston Martin.

Wiggins Orwellian LIES* are Mind Boggling. To imply that Unions don't do better for Workers than individual bargaining is DoubleThink of the most putrid order. The South's reactionary pro-Slavery past is why Unions haven't done well up till now there. But maybe that's about to change.

Wiggins is most likely some high-level Anti-Union Lobbyist/Activist, who thinks that his LIES will somehow fool American Workers. Nice Try. No Sale. The majority of Americans support Unions and Unionizing. Your shrewd LIES can't change that fact, Wiggins.

* as well as those of Gunnar Heinrich, whofan, Jason, lawyer, Brian W, and v.

March 29 2006 at 3:27 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Richard Warren

#24 I am a business owner, and if my employees voted to unionize then that is their decision, what you don't seem to realize is this in a new contract, it's all open to negotiation.

And it's not that easy, tell them quit, or fire them NLRB will be on you about as fast as you can say NLRB.

Educating your employees is a whole other matter, if you point out for instance "Well, if you decide to unionize, we will follow the union guidelines, that means you may not see overtime, your vacation may change, and benefits may change. I'd ask a lot of questions before you decide, but it is your decision."

It's pretty obvious that many here have never dealt with a unionization attempt from the ground up.

March 29 2006 at 12:06 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Corey Ward

This topic has been beat like a dead horse, so I'm going to keep this short, simple, maybe take it in another direction. Scenario: You are a business owner, you have roughly 1000 employees, this is a business you started from the ground up, still privately owned. You feel your salaries are fair and benefits good. A group of individuals request a meeting with you, to discuss organizing a union and representation.

a. How would you feel?
b. What would you do?

Me: Point blank, I will not recognize the union, if they don't like it, QUIT!! I already know, I will not allow anyone to dictate to me the direction of MY business. This is Free market, to get quality people and stay on top, I'm going to have to be competitive with benefits/wages. I don't need someone deciding that for me

March 29 2006 at 10:20 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Richard Warren

Union or non union there are some things we all need to look at and think about.

UC Berkeley economist Harley Shaiken. "If the only way to compete is with $10 wages, we have a problem that is much larger than just Delphi or the automotive industry. We're looking at a society where people exit rather than enter the middle class."

Some examples:

Grocery workers at the 71-store Farmer Jack chain in Michigan agreed to take a 10% wage cut to make their operation more palatable to a new owner.

Hundreds of workers at a hose plant in Auburn, Ind., approved a $2 cut in their $18-an-hour pay to keep the plant open.

Police officers in Wyandotte, Mich., agreed to a three-year wage freeze and to pay more for healthcare.

Only 60% of businesses offer health insurance to their workers, down from 66% in 2003 and 69% in 2000, according to a new survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research and Educational Trust.

First it was apparel producers, then furniture, textiles, steel.

Folks it's moving up the job value chain:

Newspaper and Magazine article proofs are being done in the Philippines. Radiologists in India now read charts for American hospitals. It's hit basic architectural work

Think about this also, from a pretty reliable source, THE FED

Average family incomes, after adjusting for inflation, fell to $70,700 in 2004, a drop of 2.3 percent when compared with 2001

The median family income, the point where half the families made more and half made less, rose a tiny 1.6 percent to $43,200 in 2004 compared with 2001.

Net worth, the difference between assets and liabilities such as loans, rose by 6.3 percent in the 2001-2004 periods to an average of $448,200, after adjusting for inflation. That gain was far below the huge increases of 25.6 percent from 1995 to 1998 and 28.7 percent from 1998 to 2001

The 2001-2004 performance was the worst since net worth actually declined by 9.9 percent in the 1989-1992 periods.

The Fed survey found that the percentage of Americans, who owned stocks, either directly or through a mutual fund, fell by 3.3 percentage points to 48.6 percent in 2004, down from 51.9 percent in 2001.

The Fed survey found that debts as a percent of total assets rose to 15 percent in 2004, up from 12.1 percent in 2001

An interesting comment from that report:

"Unless America has better income growth from jobs and wages, it is hard to see major gains in net worth for the typical family."

Then go hmmmmmmmm when you think about this

Corporations such as Disney and Wal-Mart have a dense network of up to 20,000 factories in developing countries making their products. The worlds leading multinational corporation, Wal-Mart, has assets worth $245 billion and employs 27 million workers in Export Processing Zones around the world, with little or no regulatory standards in the workplace.

Whos fleecing who? Whos holding a gun to whose head? Somehow guys, I dont think its the union.

I don't view globalization as a terrible thing, but we need to be aware of the consequences that some of the actions may be leading to. This may be the "period of adjustment" but it could portend a very different set of values for us all.

So those of you ready for globalization raise your hand. How many of you speak more than 1 language?

March 29 2006 at 9:57 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Richard Warren

1: Last time I looked this was America.
2: Business has the right to conduct business
3: Workers have a legal right to have union representation if they wish.
4: I love this: "Mercedes is publicly staying impartial throughout the process." Well unless you want the National Labor Relations board involved this is what you and your managers do, stay neutral and shut up.
5:It's not a matter of entitlement, it's about representation.

There is already talk of unions in China.

Japan,Korea,Germany, Sweden, Brazil, Mexico,Australia, Africa,Italy. and when you level out the dollars for their country, you find that the wages in comparison and some of the best and % wise mirror the wage differences here.

For all you non union folks, you need to get a real history lesson of how your "non union" benefits came about, most were modeled after union benefits, you know that unimportant stuff, healthcare, decent vacations, decent hours, shift differentials, the push for worker safety,retirement, pensions and last but not least, decent wages. All modeled after union benefits. Why? To avoid unionization.

Walmart came into this discussion keep in mind the model they present as the countries largest employer:

Are you aware that Walmart considers 28 hours "full time" are you aware that Walmart turns over nearly 1/2 it's employees every year, that Walmart costs us as taxpayers more than any other company in public assistance payments?

Is this model bringing us anything to the table? A difinitive way to treat employees? Yet it is a model, simply because of it's size.

And something else that goes right to the heart of the matter here, Walmart encourges it's suppliers to move production to lower wage countries to "remain in competition" that translates to lost American industries.

Kepp in mind that in addition to being the largest employer, they are the largest company in America now.

I only mention this regarding Walmart for this reason, it is in many ways the new American model for how employees are looked upon and treated, and it harks back to this" "It's cheaper there" well fact is it isn't.

So, lets see based on some of the comments here, you have some choices if you're not happy in your job.

Leave OK, a given, how many of you just leave? How many just complain about the job and stay? How many go home and gripe about the job to the family, yet can't find something else. How many get up, move away to somewhere else where the jobs are? How many of you commute hours because you can't afford to live close to work because your wage won't support the house payments and there are not jobs that pay the same where you live?

Put up with it, heck we all do that to some extent.

How many actually go to the boss and ask for that raise, longer vacation, better healthcare, better hours,or better yet in a large company who is the boss?

Get into the mindset that "it's a global economy, I have to be part of it" OK, then ask yourself, if customer service can be done over the phone in India, if tech support can be given over the phone from India, if the product or goods that China can produce for far less affect your job, then what?

Then ask, how safe is your job, from "Globalization" if you think it is you haven't looked in the reaview mirror.

Then ask yourself some real questions. How many can't make ends meet, how many families need two people working, not for extras, just to get through? How many work more than one job. How low would you go in wages to keep a job.

Ask how you as an individual would feel if you worked for say 26 dollars an hour, geared yoour living and life style to that over years and then were told in 2 years you work for 12 dollars an hour?

This is far more than a union non union question, it's a question of where do we stand in the global economy and where do we end up.

Now, for about 3 years in the 70's I was a union member in a dealership as a tech, the union was the IAM. The shop was a good shop, but as in any union or non union shop there were those who felt "entitled" and why did they stay, simply because management did nothing, not that the union did something, management did nothing. It was easier to let it fester and go on with the business. This is exactly what happened at GM and other places, they let bad situations fester, and did damn little. Why? They made a profit.

If these workers do unionize, I think they will find the IAM, not that effective.

And, I'm self employed, have 10 employees, who are paid at a better wage than my competition, have healthcare that I pay for, a 401k, work 8 hours a day, if overtime comes up we work it and we are non union.

However, if my emplo