UAW files petition to back labor union at JV Ultium Cells in Ohio

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The United Auto Workers (UAW), the largest union representing automotive workers in the United States, has filed a petition for official election to help create a labor union for 900 workers at Ultium Cells, an Ohio-based joint venture between South Korea’s battery maker LG Energy Solution and American automaker General Motors.

A majority of Ultium workers have signed cards authorizing the UAW to represent them, but the company “refused to recognize their majority will,” said UAW President Ray Curry in a statement after filing the petition with the National Labor Relations Board on Monday (local time).

This is an act to “ignore democracy and delay the recognition process,” and workers will be members of the UAW whether it is by card check or union election, warned Curry.

Ultium Cells said in a statement that it respects workers’ freedom to choose union representation and the efforts of the UAW to organize battery cell manufacturing workers at the Ohio plant, reported Bloomberg.

Once established, Ultium Cells union will likely be the first of its kind in the EV battery manufacturing industry. The latest opposition by Ultium’s management team is suspected to be making a point that the company won’t simply give in to union demands for higher pay, Harley Shaiken, a labor economic professor at University of California at Berkley, told Bloomberg.

Ultium Cells started operation of the Ohio plant in August, and construction of additional sites in Tennessee and Michigan is underway to begin operation in 2023 and 2024, respectively. The fourth plant will likely be located in Indiana.

LG Energy Solution shares were trading 5.87 percent higher at 559,000 won in Seoul at 2:41 p.m. Tuesday.