Following record contracts with Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, the UAW has set its sights on organizing workers at other automakers. While they face an uphill battle, democrats are unsurprisingly throwing their support behind the union.
As part of this effort, more than 30 U.S. Senators wrote a letter to executives at BMW, Honda, Hyundai, Lucid, Mazda, Mercedes, Nissan, Rivian, Subaru, Tesla, Toyota, Volkswagen, and Volvo. It urged them “not to interfere in any organizing activities occurring at its plants through the implementation of neutrality agreements.”
The letter went on to say Senators were concerned about reports that managers have “acted illegally to block unionization efforts.” It cited multiple examples including a reported case of Volkswagen managers confiscating and destroying pro-union materials. Over at Hyundai, supervisors reportedly “unlawfully banned pro-union materials in non-work areas outside of normal working hours.”
More: UAW Begins Push To Unionize 13 Carmakers, Including Tesla, BMW, Toyota, Hyundai
Some of the harshest criticism was reserved for Tesla as the letter noted the National Labor Relations Board found the company “employed multiple illegal tactics aimed at stopping organizing efforts including online harassment, employee interrogations, and retaliatory firings.” The letter said these actions are “hostile to workers’ rights” and “must not be repeated.”
Getting back to the proposed neutrality agreement, the letter calls on automakers to refrain from engaging in “pre-election activities that influence workers’ freedom to form a union.” In effect, it’s asking automakers not to discourage employees from unionizing and not to delay votes on unionization. The group went on to say a neutrality agreement is the “bare minimum … especially as companies receive and benefit from federal funds related to the electric vehicle transition.”
The letter ended by saying “All workers, no matter what states they live in, should have a free and unhindered opportunity to join a union. We strongly urge you to implement a neutrality agreement at your plants and commit to negotiating in good faith if your employees do elect to unionize with the UAW.”
That’s a big ask as unionization would likely cost these automakers heavily. While a number of firms – including Hyundai, Nissan, Toyota and Volkswagen – raised wages in the wake of union agreements with the Detroit Three, union employees typically receive better retirement and healthcare benefits.
UAW President Shawn Fain unsurprisingly praised the move and released a statement saying, “Every autoworker in this country deserves their fair share of the auto industry’s record profits, whether at the Big Three or the Non-Union Thirteen.” He added, “It’s time for the auto companies to stop breaking the law and take their boot off the neck of the American autoworker, whether they’re at Volkswagen, Toyota, Tesla, or any other corporation doing business in this country.”
