Around 1,000 workers at Ultium Cells’ second battery manufacturing plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee, joined the United Auto Workers last week after a majority signed union cards, according to a Sept. 4 press release.
The unionization comes more than two months after Local 1112 members at the battery supplier’s facility in Lordstown, Ohio, ratified their contract, which included wage increases of 30% over the next three years.
The General Motors Co. and LG Energy Solution joint venture did not interfere with the employees’ effort to organize in Spring Hill, the UAW says, and has agreed to recognize their union.
The Ultium contract won in Lordstown sets a “powerful precedent” for Spring Hill and other battery manufacturing facilities, including Ford Motor Co.’s BlueOval plants in Kentucky and Tennessee, the UAW said.
Additionally, the union touted its growing foothold in the South, citing its historic win at Volkswagen’s Chattanooga, Tennessee, factory in April.
“The UAW members at Ultium and VW are proving that the new jobs of the South will be union jobs,” said Director Tim Smith of UAW Region 8, in the release. “In the battery plants and EV factories springing up from Georgia to Kentucky to Texas, workers know they deserve the same strong pay and benefits our members have won.”
The UAW release did not specify when the new Spring Hill union members will have a contract, or its demands. Ultium Cells began production at the facility earlier this year, shipping its first battery cells to GM in March.
