By MIKE ELK
Today, in a stunning and moving video, the UAW announced that it was launching a union drive at the Toyota engine plant in Troy, Missouri. So far, the UAW has only signed up 30% of workers of the 1,000 workers at the plant, but workers there feel there is a sense of momentum of organizing.
“Seeing the new contracts with the Big Three, that’s when I realized we needed a union,” said Toyota Charles Lashley worker statement put out by the union. “It was incredible that UAW members could bargain for those benefits and that pay. I don’t see why we should be paid differently. Toyota makes more money than all the Big Three.:”
The move comes as the UAW is investing $40 million over the next two years in organizing push following the contract that the union won in the “Stand Up Strike.”
This week, the UAW said it expects 70% signup among auto workers in Chattanooga at Volkswagen. Earlier this week, a UAW leader at Mercedes in Alabama said that their union was also close to filing a union election. Workers have also announced a union drive at Hyundai in Montgomery, Alabama, earlier this month.
The new push at Toyota shows that UAW is trying to make a nationwide campaign of organizing non-union auto plants instead of targeting individual plants, which it has tried unsuccessfully to do in the past.
For more, check out the announcement video from workers at Toyota in Alabama.