The National Labor Relations Board will hold a two-day hearing this week on a contested union election at an electric vehicle battery plant in Kentucky.
Workers at BlueOval SK (BOSK) in Glendale voted in August to join the United Auto Workers Union by a mere 11 votes, but 41 ballots are being challenged and the results could alter the outcome of the election.
At issue is whether members of the plant’s Safety Emergency Response Team (SERT) should have their votes counted.
When workers filed for the union election in January, they asked that only production, maintenance, and quality operators, as well as material planning and logistics employees be under the same contract.
SERT employee ballots have been sealed since the election, pending a decision from the NLRB.
"BlueOval SK will urge the Board to count each eligible vote because every voice matters," the company said in an emailed statement to WKU Public Radio.
Production operator Bill Wilmoth says he feels BlueOval SK tried to pack the unit with votes against unionization.
“BlueOval believes this is a good tactical maneuver on their part because they’re convinced there are enough ‘no’ votes on the SERT team to turn the tide of the election to vote down our union," Wilmoth told WKU Public Radio.
Wilmoth says the SERT team’s work is very different from line workers, and feels those emergency employees should form their own bargaining unit tailored to their unique job description.
The NLRB will decide if SERT workers have a "community of interest" and can co-exist in a contract with production, maintenance, an quality operators.
“Unfortunately my employer tried to make this an argument of, ‘Golly, don’t you like the firefighters? Don’t you think these are good people? Why would you want to bar them from the union?’ It was never about those kind of emotional questions," said Wilmoth. "When we filed for our petition for election, we never asked for SERT to be included. BlueOval is trying to say who gets included in our bargaining unit and that’s not their decision to make.”
Wilmoth, one of the leading proponents of organizing at BOSK, will testify at the NLRB hearing Tuesday and Wednesday at the Hardin County Chamber of Commerce in Elizabethtown. It’s unknown how soon the board will make a decision.
BlueOval SK is the only battery plant involving the Big Three automakers that is non-union. The UAW is hoping BOSK will be its next Southern victory.
The mega factory that produces batteries for Ford and Lincoln EVs has been riddled with worker complaints over health and safety.
Last week, Ford announced it was ending its partnership with South Korea's SK On and would take sole ownership of the plant.
The split comes as the auto industry moves away from EVs amiddwindling demand. Operations at a second plant on the Hardin County battery campus remain on hold.
