The United Automobile Workers union is seeking approval from federal labor regulators for a union election among workers at a Ford Motor battery plant in Kentucky, providing a major test of organized labor’s strength following Donald’s election J. Trump.
The union filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board on Tuesday to allow workers at the new factory in Glendale, about 55 miles south of Louisville, to vote on whether they want to join the UAW. The plant, which is expected to begin production this year, is a joint venture between Ford and SK On, a South Korean battery company.
In a statement, the UAW said a “supermajority” of workers at the plant had signed papers expressing their desire to join the union.
“We want to be able to collaborate with management and have a say in how the company is run,” said Bill Wilmoth, a production worker at the Glendale plant who helped lead the organizing initiative. “We want the opportunity to negotiate a contract.”
A vote to join the UAW would increase the likelihood that workers employed at two other Ford battery plants will also become union members. These plants, one in Kentucky and the other in Tennessee, are under construction and are also joint ventures between Ford and SK.
“We are excited about our future and are committed to maintaining our direct relationship with our employees,” the joint venture, known as BlueOval SK, said in a statement. BlueOval SK has approximately 750 employees in Kentucky and 350 in Tennessee.
The union elections will take place after Trump becomes president and possibly after his appointees assume leadership roles on the labor board. Trump’s appointees were widely viewed by labor experts as hostile to unions during his first term. The Labor Committee often ruled in favor of employers over organized labor.
During the 2024 election campaign, tensions between the UAW and Trump were high. The union’s president, Shawn Fain, campaigned vigorously for Vice President Kamala Harris and has frequently criticized Trump, calling him a “scab” and saying union workers would see much greater progress under the Harris administration. However, a significant number of UAW members supported Trump in Michigan and Wisconsin.
Under President Biden, the UAW has enjoyed enthusiastic support from the White House. Biden has publicly supported unions and appeared at a UAW picket line when the auto union was on strike against the Big Three Michigan-based automakers — General Motors, Ford and Stellantis — in 2023.
After achieving significant wage and benefit gains from the three companies, the UAW began a campaign to organize non-union auto plants in the South. He won one vote at the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, but lost another at two Mercedes-Benz plants in Alabama.
An affirmative vote at Blue Oval SK would give the UAW another victory in the South and could give the union momentum to vote at other battery plants that have recently started production or are under construction across the country.
The UAW has already organized workers at a GM battery plant in Ohio. That factory is a joint venture between GM and LG Energy Solution. GM and LG recently started production at a second battery plant, in Spring Hill, Tennessee, but that plant has not yet been organized by the UAW
Stellantis, the maker of Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram vehicles, is building battery plants in Indiana that the UAW also hopes to organize.
GM and LG had plans to build a third battery plant in Lansing, Michigan, but GM is poised to sell its ownership stake in that factory, which is under construction, to LG.