Workers at Kentucky electric vehicle battery production complicated look to unionize

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Workers hired for a sprawling electric vehicle battery production complicated in Kentucky have launched a campaign to join the United Auto Workers as the union tries to expand its foothold in the South and among battery factories, the UAW said Wednesday.

The BlueOval SK complicated at Glendale is a joint assignment between Ford Motor Co. and its South Korean associate, SK On, to produce batteries for Ford and Lincoln electric vehicles. The nearly $6 billion battery park — about an hour south of Louisville — is gearing up to commence manufacturing in 2025.

The union said a supermajority of workers at BlueOval SK have signed union authorization cards to launch the community campaign to join the UAW.

The union will require to seek an election run by the National Labor Relations Board to organize workers at the two-plant complicated in Kentucky. So far it has not filed papers seeking an election.

Production at one of the plants is scheduled to commence next year. Construction continues at the second plant but a commence date for production has been paused as Ford monitors demand for electric vehicles.

In a statement on its website, the union said it believes companies like Blue Oval SK “can do better to provide career-track, household-sustaining jobs that strengthen our throng.”

Asked for a response to the unionizing attempt, BlueOval SK human resources Director Neva Burke said in a statement: “We desire to maintain a direct connection with our employees.”

The UAW said workers at Blue Oval SK, who are now nonunion, have weaker benefits than union workers at Ford. At Blue Oval, workers commence at $21 per hour, while UAW production workers at Ford commence at $26.32 and can make up to $42 per hour after three years, the union said.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat, has called the assignment a “game changer” for the state.

“We recognize that EVs are the upcoming,” Beshear said recently. “We don’t recognize how quickly they’ll get here, but the upcoming has been built in Kentucky, and we’re going to be a really large part of it.”

The UAW is hoping for a repeat of its successes in neighboring states.

Workers at a General Motors joint assignment electric vehicle battery plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee, joined the union. Workers at a Volkswagen assembly plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, also voted to unionize. In Ohio, workers at another GM joint assignment electric vehicle battery factory voted to join the UAW.

But the union lost an organizing vote in May at two Mercedes factories in Alabama.

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Krisher reported from Detroit.