Workers at a significant electric vehicle battery production facility in Kentucky have initiated a campaign to unite with the United Auto Workers (UAW), aiming to enhance the union’s presence in the southern region and within battery manufacturing plants. The UAW announced this development on Wednesday.
The BlueOval SK complex, located in Glendale, is a collaborative effort between Ford Motor Co. and its South Korean partner, SK On, intended to manufacture batteries for Ford and Lincoln electric vehicles. This $6 billion facility, situated approximately an hour south of Louisville, is expected to commence production in 2025.
According to the union, an overwhelming majority of workers at the BlueOval SK facility have signed authorization cards to officially launch their campaign to join the UAW. For the union to proceed with organizing the workforce at the Kentucky plant complex, it will need to request an election overseen by the National Labor Relations Board, although it has yet to file the necessary paperwork for this election.
Production is set to begin at one of the plants next year, while construction at the second plant is ongoing, with its production timeline currently on hold as Ford evaluates market demand for electric vehicles.
In a message posted on its website, the UAW expressed its belief that companies like BlueOval SK have the potential to offer “career-track, family-sustaining jobs that reinforce our community.”
In response to the unionization efforts, Neva Burke, the human resources Director at BlueOval SK, stated that the company aims to maintain a direct relationship with its workforce.
The UAW has highlighted that employees at BlueOval SK, who currently do not belong to a union, receive inferior benefits compared to union workers at Ford. At BlueOval, starting wages are $21 per hour, in contrast to the $26.32 starting wage for UAW production workers at Ford, who can earn up to $42 per hour after three years, according to the union.
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, affiliated with the Democratic Party, has dubbed the project a “game changer” for the state, remarking on the inevitability of electric vehicles’ prominence in the near future. “Although we don’t know how quickly they will become commonplace, Kentucky is preparing to be a significant part of that future,” Beshear commented recently.
The UAW is optimistic about replicating recent successes in nearby states, where workers at a General Motors joint venture electric vehicle battery plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee, have successfully joined the union. Additionally, workers at a Volkswagen assembly facility in Chattanooga, Tennessee, also voted in favor of unionization, and employees at another GM joint venture battery factory in Ohio have chosen to join the UAW as well.
However, the union faced setbacks, notably losing an organizing vote in May involving two Mercedes factories located in Alabama.