Ballots are being cast Wednesday over a pivotal decision at a Kentucky manufacturing complex that is producing batteries for electric vehicles. Workers will decide whether to join the United Auto Workers and extend a streak of union victories in the South, where organized labor struggled to find solid footing.
Batteries from this plant will power the all-electric Ford F-150 Lightning pickup and its EV cargo van, the E-Transit.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear says the complex that sprung up in tiny Glendale — a community of around 2,000 residents an hour south of Louisville — is the single largest economic investment in Bluegrass State history.
Pro-union employee Kumari Logan is looking for the security than she believes only a unionized workforce can deliver.
“My bills are guaranteed, so my pay and benefits should be guaranteed, too,” Logan said in comments emailed by the union. “Right now they can just change things whenever they feel like it, and that’s stressful. With a contract, you’ve got it in writing. You know where you stand.”
On-the-job-safety surfaced as another key issue for pro-union workers. The company says workplace safety is its top priority.
The company said it wants to maintain a “direct relationship” with its employees. When battery production started, BlueOval SK CEO Michael Adams said it is “creating good-paying, American jobs” while “strengthening the domestic supply chain and driving the transition to zero-emissions transportation.”
The battery complex includes two manufacturing plants but production has started at just one of them.
The fate of BlueOval is important to Gov. Beshear, a potential White House contender in 2028 who openly touts his pro-union credentials. He said the BlueOval SK project “sparked a surge of new investment and job announcements that placed Kentucky at the center of EV-related innovation.”
And organized labor has made inroads in the South in places that are not too different from BlueOval.
The unionization vote in Kentucky may not be known until late Wednesday.
