The United Auto Workers (UAW) is launching a simultaneous public organizing drive at more than a dozen automakers, including Toyota, Volkswagen and Tesla, in a bold effort to capitalize on the union's recent contract victories and reverse decades of labor organizing in the auto industry.
The UAW aims to organize nearly 150,000 workers at 13 companies, which would double the number of unionized auto workers. Targeted automakers include foreign companies such as BMW and Nissan Motor Co., as well as U.S. electric carmakers such as Rivian and Lucid.
The union launched a website Wednesday where workers can sign union cards and connect with organizers. A spokesman said the UAW has signed agreements with thousands of workers at targeted companies.
"To all the autoworkers without union benefits: now it's your turn," UAW President Sean Fein said in a video on the website, which also included statistics on the targeted automakers' growing profits, executive pay and vehicle prices. "When your company is making billions of dollars, you don't have to worry about how you're going to pay your rent or feed your family. A better life is ahead," Fein said.
Fein said the UAW has seen an "overwhelming" response from non-union workers across the U.S. in recent months, especially in the South.
Under U.S. law, if a majority of employees in a workplace sign a union card, a company can either voluntarily recognize the union or insist on government-supervised union organizing elections. Such campaigns can be controversial and difficult, with companies often employing tactics such as mandatory meetings aimed at convincing workers not to unionize. It is illegal to retaliate against workers who try to unionize, but employers are often accused of doing so and they do not face punitive damages if the government finds they violated the law.