The United Automobile Workers union asked a federal labor regulator to conduct an election at a factory Ford jointly owns with a South Korean battery company.
The agreement, if ratified, will cover 1,600 workers making batteries for General Motors in Ohio. The union said it would be a model for efforts elsewhere.
Southern political leaders say a win for the United Automobile Workers would threaten their economies. Activists want to strike a blow against a system they say exploits the poor.
More than 7,000 U.A.W. workers at Daimler Truck plants in North Carolina are set to strike at midnight in a labor action that could carry political consequences.
The sister of a 9-year-old girl killed in the Uvalde school shooting is set to attend the speech, along with the head of the U.A.W. and business owners focused on the environment.
A looming union election at a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga could determine the trajectory of union organizing at more than a dozen auto factories.
Experts said the union’s new contracts could set precedents that give labor advantages when bargaining contracts and organizing workers.
With tentative agreements in place, a six-week strike against Ford, General Motors and Stellantis could soon come to an end. But the union’s rank-and-file members still need to approve the deals.
General Motors became the last of the three large U.S. automakers to reach a tentative agreement on a new contract with the United Automobile Workers union.
Stellantis, the parent of Chrysler, Jeep and Ram, and the United Automobile Workers union said they had reached a deal on a new contract similar to the one that the union reached with Ford.