Workers at a sprawling electric vehicle battery campus in Glendale, Kentucky will vote this month on whether to unionize.
The National Labor Relations Board has scheduled Aug. 26-27 for an election that will determine whether hourly employees at the BlueOval SK plant will join the United Auto Workers Union, which represents Ford employees across the U.S.
According to the NLRB, voting will be open to all full-time and part-time production and maintenance workers.
Earlier this year, a super-majority of the BlueOval SK workforce requested the vote out of concerns over plant safety and company management.
A statement from BlueOval SK said workers will soon have the chance to determine if they want to “continue to speak for themselves or hand that right over to a labor union.”
"Our team members have endured months of union sales tactics and slanders against their exciting jobs and proud accomplishments," said BlueOval SK spokesperson Mallory Cooke in an email to WKU Public Radio. "They are ready for their voices to be heard."
The company launched its own anti-union campaign in a series of social media posts.
The first of two plants that will produce batteries for Ford and Lincoln electric vehicles is scheduled to open later this year. Operations at the second plant are on indefinite hold due to soft EV demand.
The nearly $6 billion EV battery campus, more than eight million square feet, is a joint venture between Ford and South Korea-based SK On.
The company has projected a workforce of 5,000 once both plants come online.
