Germanyʼs post-war success story relies heavily on US market access and security - a deal thats now facing new tests. The country built its wealth on exports while keeping defense costs low thanks to American protection (which saved them billions over decades)
The situation at Mercedes Alabama plant shows how complex things got: Mercedes-Benz fought against workerʼs union rights in ways that dont match its home-country values. UAW lost the vote after companyʼs tough anti-union push‚ which included worker meetings and even fired some pro-union staff
- Alabama
- Georgia
- Mississippi
- South Carolina
- Tennessee
- Texas
These states governors made things worse by calling UAW “socialists“; their joint statement claimed that unionized foreign car plants always shut down. The truth is German carmakers like BMW‚ Mercedes‚ and VW picked these places to save money on wages
Every single time a foreign automaker plant has been unionized; not one of those plants remains in operation
Things look different at Volkswagen though - German unions helped stop Tennesseeʼs governor from fighting unions at VWʼs plant. Now after winning the vote early this year‚ UAW started its first southern contract talks; this shows how worker-to-worker connections across ocean can work
The UAW isnt giving up - they filed cases in German courts using new supply-chain laws and sent people to talk with German unions. Jake Sullivan‚ US security advisor talked to German officials about this which shows how important worker rights are to current US government
Its kind of weird that German companies (who enjoy strong unions back home) team up with anti-democratic forces in US south. If Germans want good relations with America they should push their companies to respect US workers rights - after all both countries democratic values started about 80 years ago after WWII