Mercedes-Benz asked Nick Saban to address Alabama workers after UAW launched organizing campaign
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Mercedes-Benz earlier this year brought college football coaching legend Nick Saban to talk to workers at its auto manufacturing campus in Alabama after the UAW announced a bid to unionize the plants there.
Why it matters: Mercedes workers in Tuscaloosa County are voting this week on whether to join the UAW in what would be the union's second victory in as many months after years of organizing failures in the South.
The big picture: Saban — who recently retired from coaching and joined ESPN as a commentator — is revered in Alabama for leading the Crimson Tide to seven national championships.
- Saban owns multiple Mercedes dealerships and has reportedly said he does not endorse the UAW's campaign.
Behind the scenes: "They don't stop the line for hardly anything, but they shut the line down and they had a meeting with Nick Saban in there to talk to us about teamwork and the tactics and methods he used as a football coach," Kay Finklea, a quality inspector at the site and a member of the UAW's voluntary organizing committee in Tuscaloosa, tells Axios.
The German automaker confirmed to Axios that Saban visited the Tuscaloosa campus to talk to the company's workers in late February.
- The company said in a statement that its Alabama operation has a long-standing relationship with Saban. It said the former coach has visited the plant "numerous times" throughout his career with the Crimson Tide football program "to offer his insights on leadership and team performance."
- "Shortly after his retirement announcement in January, we invited him again to speak to our Team Members. We are honoring his retirement and incredible success as the Football Coach for the University of Alabama, while thanking him for his motivational words over the years and for his impact on the community."
What they're saying: Taking advantage of the fact that workers are a "captive audience" is among the standard tactics that companies use to deliver anti-union messages during unionization campaigns, says Mike Podhorzer, a former political director of the AFL-CIO.
- "It's consistent with what companies do all the time to discourage working people from acting collectively," Podhorzer says.
- "In a big, high-profile organizing campaign like this on both sides there's always some jockeying or theatrics," Sharon Block, executive director of the Center for Labor and a Just Economy at Harvard Law School, tells Axios.
Friction point: A pro-UAW group, More Perfect Union, recently launched a commercial in Alabama featuring comments by Saban that the ad portrays as pro-union.
- Saban then released a statement denouncing the ad: "Not only were these comments taken entirely out of context, they were also being used without my knowledge or permission," he said, according to the AP. "I do not personally endorse the UAW or its campaign and have asked the UAW to remove any advertisements featuring me from circulation."
- "I encourage all Team Members to exercise their right to vote in the upcoming election," he added.
Representatives from the University of Alabama and ESPN did not respond to Axios' request for further comment from Saban.
- The UAW has filed several unfair labor practice charges against Mercedes with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), saying the automaker has interfered with the organizing process. Mercedes says it supports the workers' right to vote.
The big picture: The UAW is hoping to turn the Mercedes-Benz Tuscaloosa campus into the second unionized non-Detroit Three plant in the country.
- Workers at the Volkswagen factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee, voted in April to become the first.
What's next: The NLRB will announce the results of the vote on Friday.
