United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain had pointed words for a group of Southern governors – including Alabama’s Kay Ivey – following Friday’s historic win by the union in an election at Volkswagen’s Chattanooga factory.

Speaking to The Guardian, Fain blasted a joint letter released last week by the Republican governors of six states decrying “misinformation and scare tactics” by the union as it seeks to organize in Southern auto plants that have historically resisted organizing efforts.

“They’re liars. The people who are doing the misleading are them,” Fain said.

Ivey was one of the governors included in the letter, along with Georgia’s Brian Kemp, Tate Reeves of Mississippi, South Carolina’s Henry McMaster, Gov. Bill Lee of Tennessee and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.

In an interview, Fain said the governors “are showing that they’re just puppets for corporate America, and they don’t give a damn about working-class people. They don’t care about the workers being left behind even though the workers are the ones who elect them.”

In the letter, the governors called the union “special interests looking to come into our state and threaten our jobs.”

Fain accused the governors of “wrecking the economy because they don’t care about working people having a decent wage. It’s working-class people who move the economy.”

Last Thursday, the National Labor Relations Board announced voting will take place May 13 and 17 on whether workers at Mercedes-Benz U.S. International will join the UAW. Vote totals are expected May 17. The following day, workers at Volkswagen overwhelmingly voted to join the UAW, garnering 73% of the ballots cast.

Fain said he thinks workers at Mercedes “definitely want a union, and I believe a big majority there will vote in favor.”

He said workers, not union organizers, have led the effort in Alabama “with very little help from us.”

“They wanted it that way. It’s great to see those workers feeling their power and being able to exercise their power,” he said.