The United Auto Workers today announced it has filed charges against Mercedes-Benz Group AG, saying the automaker’s moves against union organizing in Alabama have violated a sweeping German law governing international supply chain practices.

Among the violations the union accuses the company of are firing a union supporter with Stage 4 cancer, to forbidding employees from passing out UAW hats at a rally honoring retired Alabama Coach Nick Saban.

“If found guilty, Mercedes-Benz faces billions in penalties, including significant fines and bans on government contracts,” the UAW stated in a news release.

Attempts to contact Mercedes-Benz for comment were not immediately successful.

The German law, known as the Act on Corporate Due Diligence Obligations in Supply Chains, went into effect last year.

It mandates that companies prevent forced labor and human trafficking, slavery and similar practices in their supply chains, but also forbids non-compliance with labor protections, as well as discrimination and withholding of wages.

According to the union, the complaint lists seven violations of the German act, which include:

• The firing of a union supporter with Stage 4 cancer for violating a cellphone policy on the Vance factory floor, which was one of the charges against the company made to the National Labor Relations Board last month.
• A January letter from MBUSI CEO Michael Göbel to employees, which the union said “was filled with stock phrases used by anti-union consultants designed to stoke fear, uncertainty, and division.”
• A mandatory plant-wide meeting Göbel held in February where he reportedly told workers, “I don’t believe the UAW can help us to be better.”
• A mandatory plant-wide meeting in February featuring Saban. According to the UAW, supervisors attempted to stop union supporters from passing out UAW hats.

Reuters reported Tuesday that a petition for a union election at Mercedes-Benz’s automotive plant in Alabama could come as early as this week.

In February, the United Auto Workers announced that more than half of the employees at Mercedes-Benz’s Vance plant had signed union authorization cards. The union has set a goal of 70% of the plant’s workers signing union cards before it will petition for a union election.