‘Alabama discount’: Area group claims corporations use deals to exploit labor

HUNTSVILLE – As the battle over unions – pro and con – rages in Alabama, labor representatives in the region dove into the fight that ironically is being staged during “Labor History Month.”

Following the signing of Senate Bill 231 by Gov. Kay Ivey, and a pointed response from AFL-CIO representatives, the North Alabama Area Labor Council (NAALC) released a statement in support of what the council calls the “most significant” organizing efforts of the state’s autoworkers and the United Auto Workers (UAW). The NAALC claims recent activity has “energized the entire labor movement.”

A vote is being held this week regarding unionizing at the Mercedes-Benz plant in Vance, just outside of Tuscaloosa. The voting began Monday and ends Friday. Ivey signed SB231 into law Monday morning.

The NAALC is a regional office operating under the umbrella of the AFL-CIO.

“These brave workers have been organizing despite union-busting tricks from the company and a wave of propaganda from the state’s business and political class,” said NAALC President Jacob Morrison. “More and more workers realize they deserve a voice on the job, where we spend the majority of our waking lives.”

In its statement, the NAALC said big corporations take advantage of what it calls the “Alabama discount” offered by the state’s politicians. The NAALC claims the deal brings with it hostility to unions, lower wages, worse benefits, minimal regulations, unsafe working conditions, and generous tax subsidies.

Those things fly in the face of the state’s labor background, said NAALC trustee and former history teacher Adam Keller.

“If you look at our history, unions are as Alabama as sweet tea and football,” he said.

The labor group decried corporate earnings as related to pay for executives compared to that of workers. While noting that Toyota recently offered its employees a 9% raise “not to organize,” the NAALC urges the auto giant’s workers to “stand up for more.”

According to www.workforcegps.org, Labor History Month honors the struggles and achievements of American workers. The roots of the celebration dates back as far as the late 19th century recognizing events that happened in May – the Haymarket Riot of 1886 and the founding of the American Federation of Labor in 1886.