With the possibility of a unionized workplace at Alabama’s first auto plant seemingly in the rearview mirror for now, the state’s economic strategy for recruiting major employers is expected to remain status quo.
But that comes with a cost dubbed the “Alabama discount.”
That’s what union advocates and some workers use to describe the state’s practice of handing over millions of dollars in economic incentives to big companies like Mercedes-Benz without, they say, ensuring better working conditions and pay for the people who make the cars.
Though the United Auto Workers can still challenge the election results with the National Labor Relations Board, the vote tally on Friday showed about 56% of workers at the state’s two Mercedes plants in Vance and Woodstock opted against unionizing.
Workers voted 2,045 to 2,642 against UAW representation.
Nearly 5,100 production and maintenance workers at the automotive plant in Vance and the electric battery plant in Woodstock were eligible to vote. AL.com
