The United Auto Workers of America (UAW) said today that approximately 1,500 workers at Mercedes-Benz’s Vance auto plant in Tuscaloosa County have joined the union.

The UAW hailed the number as a “major milestone” in its ongoing campaign to organize in America’s non-unionized auto plants.

A Mercedes spokesperson said the company would release a comment later today.

About 6,000 people work at Mercedes-Benz U.S. International (MBUSI), which was the first auto plant to locate in Alabama. The plant produces the Mercedes GLE, GLE coupé and GLS model series. After investing more than $1 billion into its Alabama operations since 2017, Mercedes also produces the all-electric EQS SUV and EQE.

According to the UAW, its members signing union authorization cards represent about 30% of the plant’s workforce. Previous unionization drives by the UAW at Vance have not been able to gain traction. However, last year, UAW members at a Mercedes supplier walked out on the job while a new contract was negotiated.

The union push comes following several attempts by unions to organize in Alabama, a right-to-work state where organizing in recent years has had decidedly mixed results.

Perhaps the highest-profile case is the fight that began to unionize Bessemer’s Amazon warehouse in 2021, which saw two contested elections. A hearing is set for Jan. 29 regarding the results of a 2022 election on whether workers will be represented by the Retail, Wholesale & Department Store Union (RWDSU).

The ultimate goal of the union’s drive, according to UAW materials, is to reach the 70% threshold.

“After 70% of our coworkers have signed cards and we have an organizing committee made up of workers from every shift, every job classification, and every group of workers in the plant, we demand that the company recognize our union,” a flier states. “If they don’t, we file cards with the (National Labor Relations Board) and take it to a vote.”

In an accompanying video released by the UAW, workers talk about the history of the plant and how their pay has not kept pace in recent years with the rise in the price of Mercedes’ vehicles.

“In the past, people didn’t know if we had a pathway forward here,” Jeremy Kimbrell, a Mercedes worker since 1999 said in a news release through the union. “Now everybody’s coming together and seeing what the pathway is, and it’s through the union. When we get our union in here, I think people will once again look at Mercedes and say, it’s not just another job, it’s a career job. It’s a job where generations will want to come and work. And that’ll spread out to the suppliers and then to the broader area.”

The union’s announcement also comes a month after Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga, Tenn., went public with a unionization drive.

Derrick Todd, an online quality member with MBUSI since 2005, said pay topped out two years ago and employees have to go through a temp agency before getting on pay scale.

“Back in the day, you could get by on the pay here,” Todd said. “Year after year, the company says they’ve got record profits and sales, but our pay doesn’t keep up. It’s time to set things right. It’s time that we had our voice heard.”

Jim Spitzley, who said he’s been with the company for 27 years, said morale has been steadily declining.

“Even when I started, I rotated shifts for 15 years, so I missed a lot of time with my kids when they were little,” Spitzley said in a union announcement. “I’m on straight days now, but when a new model year comes out I can still work 12 out of 13 weekends. We have to have a voice to turn things around. The union is our voice. That’s how the new people coming in are going to be treated fairly. That’s how we end the two tiers.”