Alabama
UAW Hopes To Expand Its Ranks As Alabama Mercedes-Benz Workers Vote On Union Membership
Workers at two Alabama Mercedes-Benz plants rallying with UAW President Shawn Fain ahead of a vote … [+]
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.
STERLING HEIGHTS, MICHIGAN – JULY 12, 2023: UAW President Shawn Fain is hoping success in winning … [+]
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.
Prof. David Jacobs, a labor expert at the American University’s Kogod School of Business.
“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.”
This week on “The Voice of Alabama Politics,” Alabama once again finds itself at the center of one of the nation’s biggest constitutional battles.
Bill Britt, Susan Britt and Josh Moon break down the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to reopen Alabama’s redistricting fight, the growing uncertainty surrounding the state’s election maps and the larger national conflict over voting rights, race and political power.
The show also examines controversy surrounding Republican lieutenant governor candidate Wes Allen and President Donald Trump reopening his political split with former Congressman Mo Brooks.
What emerges is a portrait of Alabama once again serving as the testing ground for some of America’s biggest political and constitutional fights.
Avery Luedke will join the Alabama women for the upcoming 2026-2027 season. Luedke just spent her freshman season with fellow-SEC program Tennessee.
“I’m so excited to announce that I will be continuing my academic and athletic career at the University of Alabama!
I’d like to give a huge thank you to the Tennessee coaching staff for giving me the opportunity to be a Lady Vol and to all of my friends and family for supporting me throughout this process. I’m so thankful for my time at Tennessee and I will always be proud to be a LVFL.
I’m grateful for the journey that led me here, and so excited for this next chapter! Roll Tide!!”
Luedke is originally from Illinois and arrived in Knoxville last fall. She swam a season best 4:49.31 in the 500 free during the team’s midseason invite. Her season best in the 1650 free of a 16:33.91 came at Winter Juniors in December. She did not swim at the 2026 SEC Championships and instead finished her season at Tennessee’s Last Chance meet.
Her lifetime bests still stand from high school as she swam a 4:48.42 500 free in November 2024 during her high school season and a 16:30.28 1650 free in March 2025 at NCSAs.
Luedke’s Best Times:
| High School | At Tennessee | |
| 500 free | 4:48.42 | 4:49.31 |
| 1650 free | 16:30.28 | 16:33.91 |
The Alabama women finished 4th out of 13 teams at the 2026 SEC Championships, two spots behind Tennessee’s 2nd place finish. Alabama was led by Emily Jones who tallied 80 individual points including a 2nd place finish in the 100 back with a 50.59.
Based on her best times from high school, Luedke would have been 17th in the 1650 free and 24th in the 500 free. Alabama scored 33 points in the 1650 free and 13 in the 500 free at 2026 SECs. Her 1650 free from Winter Juniors this past season would have been 19th.
Does anyone else have redistricting fatigue? It seems our Republican legislators share this sentiment. What we are currently witnessing is yet another chapter in the ongoing book of Republican inaction when it comes to Alabama politics. I once thought it was a matter of incompetence, then perhaps a lack of urgency.
However, the current redistricting issues have led me to a more cynical perspective: perhaps many of the Republicans in Montgomery are not really who we think they are.
The United States Supreme Court gave the Alabama Legislature an opportunity of a lifetime when they lifted the injunction that has forced Alabama to draw its maps based on race for years now.
Attorney General Steve Marshall, who truly is the hero of this story, understood the assignment and stepped up when needed to deliver the state one of its biggest legal victories in history. These opportunities are extremely rare, and in this political environment, conservatives cannot afford to let them pass by.
And how did the so-called conservatives in the Alabama Legislature respond? Well, they played it safe, of course, by passing an already drawn 6-1 map claiming that this was the best they could do. Settling for the path of least resistance is not leadership, it’s cowardice under the mask of fake action. If “hurry up and look busy” ever embodied a group of individuals, we saw exactly that during this last special session.
I urge the “Republicans” in Montgomery to look to their North and South. Look at Tennessee, which went from an 8-1 map to 9-0 under intense protests. You think a couple of people shouting from the gallery in the Alabama House chamber was bad?
Take a look at what transpired in the Tennessee legislature as they passed this new map. Tennessee could’ve chosen not to lift a finger and be satisfied with 8-1, but pushed through to make its state completely red. Take a look at Florida, DeSantis had a new map ready almost immediately following the SCOTUS ruling. That’s true leadership, looking ahead and preparing how to strike best. That’s called winning.
Alabama is in an even more unique position than these states, where SCOTUS essentially told us this week, “For the love, please redraw your maps!” with the removal of our injunction. And yet, our Republican legislators crossed their arms and said, “go pound sand”.
The unfortunate reality is that if they wanted to, they would. If the Republicans in Montgomery truly wanted to paint their state red, they would. If they were truly conservatives as they claim, they would bite down on their mouthpiece, put their gloves up, and go to work. Instead, they fall back on the excuse of lack of time and expect you to be satisfied with that answer. They’ll tweet out how they want a 7-0 when it’s safe, and point the finger when they underdeliver.
It seems, once again, Republicans in Alabama don’t understand the gravity of the situation. The Democrats of 2026 want to do irreversible damage to our country.
We can look at the current rise of political violence from the left and take it as a warning. If they ever come back to power, they’re coming for blood.
This doesn’t appear to hit home in Montgomery.
What they’re essentially saying is that they’re willing to send someone to Congress from this state who advocates for abortion, wide-open borders, and all of the other despicable policies of the current Democratic Party, because they want to. What other answer is there? After what has transpired and been revealed through the redistricting process, this is the only place to land.
Attorney General Marshall did what he was supposed to. SCOTUS bent over backwards to hand you this opportunity, and you didn’t just fumble it, you threw it in the stands and then claimed you won the game.
If you’re going to give refuge to Democrats in this state, just change that “R” to a “D” and call it a day. We’d have much more respect for you than we do right now.
Justin “JP” Plott is the executive producer/co-host of “The Rightside with Allison and Amie Beth” and co-owner of Rightside Media. You can find him on X @JPRightside. Watch “The Rightside with Allison and Amie Beth” every weekday from 10am-12pm CT at www.rightsidemedia.org.
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