More than 5,000 workers at two Mercedes-Benz plants in Alabama begin voting Monday on whether or not to join the United Auto Workers. The vote, which ends Friday morning, comes less than a month after workers at a Volkswagen factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee voted overwhelmingly to join the UAW, ending the union’s decades-long push to organize workers at U.S.-based, foreign-owned plants..

Robert Johnston, a worker at the Mercedes-Benz battery plant in Woodstock, Alabama, has no doubt his co-workers there, and at the much larger assembly plant in Vance, will prove the UAW’s win in Tennessee wasn’t a one-off victory.

“I mean, hands down. I think we’re gonna win. We’re gonna win. Hopefully by a lot,” Johnston says in an interview. “It seems like it’s gonna be a slam dunk just like Volkswagen. Everybody’s excited.”

Austin Brooks is also excited. A two-year employee at the Woodstock plant, he’s looking forward to joining the UAW to get him through some tough medical challenges.

“I’m always in a medical hospital. I’m always sick. I need better health care. Plus, when I retire I’m not going to have any insurance until Medicare kicks in,” Brooks says in an interview.

About 5,200 workers are eligible to cast their ballots from Monday to Friday morning 10:45 a.m. eastern time, according to the National Labor Relations Board which is administering the vote.

UAW President Shawn Fain’s confidence in organizing non-union auto workers accelerated after winning major raises and improved benefits for members at the Detroit Three automakers last fall. He led bruising negotiations that included a series of strikes against all three over the course of 46 days.

In announcing the settlements, Fain vowed that in the next round of contract talks in 2028, UAW would expand beyond General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and Stellantis to include the foreign, and domestic companies with non-union workers building vehicles in the U.S.

But even if the UAW chalks up a second straight victory at the Mercedes-Benz plants, that doesn’t necessarily portend that Fain will march across the South like Civil War General William Tecumseh Sherman notching up one victory after another without suffering at least a few defeats.

“It’s a little bit hard for me to imagine they’re being successful across the board because they’re different companies and there are different levels of union support or hostility elsewhere in the corporate structure,” observes professor David Jacobs at the American University’s Kogod School of Business in an interview. “The South has been a very difficult nut to crack. It’s been the center of an alternative economy. It’s a low-wage economy, low-regulation economy, the southern political economy. I call it the Neo- Confederate infrastructure.”

Indeed just ahead of the vote at Volkswagen, six southern governors, including Alabama’s, signed a letter opposing UAW representation of workers in the region, alleging a vote to do so would threaten jobs in those states.

That’s just one instance of outside pressure workers are feeling to vote no.

Johnston and Brooks say they’re certainly aware of that pressure but predict it will have no effect on the outcome.

“Everybody wants to make it a political issue, and this is not a political issue,” says Johnston. “The UAW didn’t come to us, we went to them. It has to do with the workers fighting back, demanding our rights and, you know, collectively, together. We know we can bargain for better working conditions, better wages, better benefits.”

“People are trying to come in, but what I can say is at the end of the day they ain’t gonna have no control over when we vote yes,” adds Brooks.

While workers like Johnston and Brooks seem confident of a positive vote to join the UAW, a white paper released last week by the Center for Automotive Research titled, “UAW’s Next Frontier: Mercedes-Benz in Alabama,” looks at the effects of both possible results.

“A victory of the UAW would send a message to all automakers that the U.S. automotive blue-collar workers are seeking not just a fair wage but also a better work-life balance, as many white-collar workers in the industry take for granted. A victory for the company would signal that workers value the work culture, employer-employee relationship and already enjoy what unionization might,” said the report written by Yen Chen, principal economist at the Center for Automotive Research and Marick Masters professor of business at Wayne State University.

Indeed, the paper predicts no matter the results they will have a “persistent effect on both the UAW and Mercedes-Benz but also have broader implications for the U.S. automotive industry.”

With 40 seconds to play on Saturday, St. Louis outside linebacker Chris Garrett blocked a punt by Birmingham’s Drue Chrisman to give the Battlehawks the football at the Stallions 47-yard line trailing by four points.

That set the stage for the kind of comeback victory that St. Louis quarterback AJ McCarron has become accustomed to delivering since joining the Battlehawks last season.

And adding electricity to the storyline was the United Football League game’s location – Protective Stadium in Birmingham. A former All-American and national-championship quarterback at Alabama, McCarron also was a prep star at St. Paul’s Episcopal in Mobile, and Saturday’s United Football League game was his first action in his home state since the Kick Six Iron Bowl in 2013.

But about seven minutes of game time before the blocked punt, McCarron had walked to the sideline and told the St. Louis coaches: “Hey, my ankle’s broken.”

Despite his injury proclamation, McCarron did not miss a snap. But he couldn’t deliver the dramatic game-winning drive either as Birmingham stayed undefeated 30-26 victory.

McCarron did not speak at St. Louis’ postgame press conference, as he usually does, as the Battlehawks said he was receiving treatment. Coach Anthony Becht did not provide an update on the quarterback during his postgame remarks.

“I know he wanted to deliver today,” Becht said, “and we just came up short. …

“He’s been doing it his whole life. He’s played in front of 100-plus thousand fans. He can deal with 10 or 12 (thousand), and most of them were cheering for him. That’s good, you know? I know he wanted this one. I know he wanted to bring this one home.”

McCarron’s return to Alabama was used as a marketing tool by the UFL, and with a reported attendance of 14,056, Birmingham had its biggest crowd of the season.

About two hours after the game ended, a statement from St. Louis said McCarron had sustained a left ankle injury and would undergo further evaluation.

McCarron had just completed a third-and-8 pass to wide receiver Hakeem Butler for a 15-yard gain to the Birmingham 22-yard line when he was taken down by Stallions nose tackle Carlos Davis on an incompletion.

Davis hit McCarron in the shins, then rolled the QB over holding his legs and got a roughing-the-passer penalty. St. Louis running back Jacob Saylors scored on a 7-yard run on the next snap to give the Battlehawks a 26-23 lead with 7:43 to play.

McCarron made his ankle announcement after the conversion try and went into the sideline medical tent.

After a 40-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Adrian Martinez to wide receiver Kelvin Austin Jr. allowed Birmingham to take a 4-point lead with 5:23 remaining, an 8-yard loss on a sack, an 8-yard run by Saylors and an incompletion on a long pass gave the Battlehawks their first three-and-out since the opening possession. St. Louis punted with 3:10 remaining.

But Garrett’s blocked punt gave the Battlehawks an opportunity to pin the first loss of the season on Birmingham. A 7-yard completion to Saylors was followed by a run for 1 gain by McCarron as the quarterback somehow eluded a sack. But with St. Louis out of timeouts, the next snap had to be a spike to stop the clock.

A fourth-down throw to wide receiver Jahcour Person was broken up by linebacker Kyahva Tezino with 11 seconds left to seal the Stallions’ victory.

McCarron finished the game 19-of-32 passing for 161 yards with one touchdown and one interception. He ran for 24 yards on two carries, and his scrambling allowed him to throw an 8-yard touchdown pass to Saylors as the Battlehawks took a 20-17 lead with 6:17 left in the third quarter.

The Battlehawks face the D.C. Defenders at 11 a.m. May 19 at the Dome at America’s Center in St. Louis. ABC will televise the game.

At 5-2, St. Louis will be at least tied for the XFL Conference lead after the United Football League’s Week 7 games are completed. But it remains to be seen if the Battlehawks will have their starting quarterback against D.C.

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.