Montgomery Hyundai workers announce union drive, 2nd at Alabama auto plant

Workers at a Hyundai plant in Montgomery have launched a union drive, the second announced organization effort at a major Alabama automotive manufacturer in the last month.

The United Auto Workers (UAW) said in a statement Thursday morning that 30% of workers at Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama (HMMA) had signed union cards. Workers quoted in a release cited concerns about pay and the toll the work had on their health.

Peggy Howard, a Hyundai worker quoted in the release, said “management pushes you back on the line too soon” after an injury.

“I had surgery on my rotator cuff in September and I had to go back to work the last of December,” Howard said in the statement. I didn’t get the two weeks ramp up and now I’m having pains all over again. I had a cortisone injection three weeks ago and I’m about to go back for another injection. If that doesn’t work, the doctor told me he’ll have to do the surgery over again. We need to make our jobs safer, we need the union.”

Scott Posey, a spokesman for HMMA, wrote in an email that Hyundai was “among the safest automotive assembly plants in the United States” and that the company had recently approved a wage package that he said would increase hourly wages 25% by 2028, and that “HMMA production team members” had received a raise in January of 14% over the previous year.

“As we would with any important issue that could affect HMMA’s team members’ careers and how we work together, HMMA is providing factual and balanced information as part of an ongoing, respectful dialogue about union representation,” he wrote. “It’s important that team members hear all perspectives on this issue so that they can make an informed decision about what is right for them and their families.”

Under federal law, workers can request a union election when 30% of employees at a workplace sign authorization cards. UAW has said it requests elections when it gets 70% of employees to signal their preference for a union.

The announcement comes after workers at the Mercedes-Benz plant in Vance announced a union drive on Jan. 10. Organizers there cited concerns over stalled pay and benefits at the plant.

Both manufacturers were lured to Alabama by major state incentive packages. Hyundai received a $252.8 million package from Alabama in 2002 that included local tax abatements, corporate income tax credits and road improvements.

Hyundai began manufacturing vehicles at the plant in 2005. The company currently makes its Tuscon; Santa Fe; Santa Cruz; and gas and electric-powered Genesis GV570 models at the plant. Posey wrote in an email that HMMA employs over 4,000 people.

The UAW won a major strike against Detroit’s Big Three automakers late last year, securing pay raises, improved retirement security and commitments to bring electric vehicle and battery plant jobs under union contracts. The union said on Monday that they were “nearing a majority” of workers indicating their preference for a union at Mercedes and a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

The Mercedes drive drew swift criticism from Republican Gov. Kay Ivey, who accused “out-of-state special interest groups” of leading the drive. The Business Council of Alabama has launched “Alabama Strong,” which BCA President and CEO Helena Duncan in a widely circulated opinion piece called a campaign to discuss “the economic dangers that unionization presents.”

While the state’s unionization rate lags the national average, Alabama is the most organized state in the South. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), 156,000 Alabamians (7.5% of the workforce) belonged to a union in 2023, up from 149,000 the previous year. Another 180,000 workers (8.6% of the workforce) were represented by a union. Union membership in Alabama grew by about 7,000 workers last year, according to BLS.

An Alabama Arise report published last November found that state auto workers make an average of $64,682 a year, higher than the state’s median household income ($59,674). But the report also found that Alabama autoworkers’ real wages had declined 11% between 2002 and 2019; that they lagged national autoworkers’ pay and that Black and Hispanic workers and women are paid substantially less.

Updated at 11:53 a.m. with comment from HMMA spokesman and his note that 4,000 people work at the plant. An earlier version of this story, citing the HMMA website, said it was over 3,000.