Nora Eckert
DETROIT (Reuters) – The United Auto Workers union is petitioning the National Labor Relations Board to force an election at a Kentucky battery plant operated by a Ford Motor joint venture, the union said on Wednesday.
The BlueOval SK plant, owned by a partnership between South Korean companies SK On and Ford, has become the latest battleground over batteries for the union as it seeks to boost dwindling membership and secure jobs as the industry electrifies.
A BlueOval SK spokesman said most of the battery plant’s workers had not yet been hired and called the union’s petition “premature.”
“None of our team members have had the opportunity to see how our plant will operate as we have not yet started production,” the statement said.
“The UAW is trying to expedite the unionization of BlueOval SK before our entire workforce has the opportunity to make a truly free and informed choice.”
UAW President Sean Fein tried to build on the historic victory achieved last year at the Volkswagen (ETR:) plant in Tennessee. The labor group has failed to gain a significant voice since then, losing at the Mercedes plant in Alabama in May.
Last year, the UAW invested $40 million to organize nonunion automakers across the United States. Companies such as Tesla (NASDAQ:) and Toyota (New York Stock Exchange:).
Battery plants, partly owned by Detroit automakers, became a major sticking point during the union’s six-week strike against Ford, General Motors (NYSE:) and Jeep maker Stellantis (NYSE:) in late 2023.
The union previously won victories with Ultium Cells, a joint venture between GM and LG Energy Solution, at plants in Ohio and Tennessee.
In June 2024, the company reached a tentative contract at GM’s battery plant in Ohio, and in September, GM agreed to recognize the union at the Ultium plant in Tennessee.
Companies can agree to voluntary worker recognition once a majority sign pro-union cards, as happened with Ultium’s Tennessee facility.
In cases where a company does not agree to do so, an NLRB-supervised election is held in which workers must vote by a majority to join the union.
According to the NLRB, a union can petition for such an election after collecting signatures from at least 30% of workers.
In November, the UAW said the “vast majority” of workers at the Kentucky plant signed cards indicating their support for joining the union, without specifying a percentage.
An election date has not yet been set, but there is usually a delay of several weeks between a union filing for an election and the election being held.
While the union has received support from President Joe Biden, including in person at picket lines during the strike, Fein’s relationship with President-elect Donald Trump is more contentious.
The new president said the union leader should be fired, and Fein said before the election that a Trump victory would be “a complete disaster for the working class.”