IG Metall, UAW Open Joint Office in Tennessee

The United Auto Workers union and Germany’s largest union, IG Metall, are opening an office in Spring Hill, Tenn., to promote unionism in the South.

The partners say their joint aim is to improve wages, working conditions and benefits for workers at German-owned suppliers and auto plants, where a union presence is extremely rare, the Associated Press reports. AP notes the plan has been in the works for several months.

The two unions also will promote German-style works councils, which represent hourly and salaried employees on plant-specific issues. Such groups are ubiquitous in Germany, where national law dictates that half the seats on a domestic company’s board are held by labor representatives.

The partners are likely to ramp up efforts to organize workers at BMW AG’s assembly complex in South Carolina and Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz plant in Alabama. IG Metall estimates German-owned carmakers and suppliers in the U.S. employ about 100,000 people.

The UAW has been trying to organize Volkswagen AG’s factory in Chattanooga, Tenn., since losing a close vote there in February 2014. Skilled trades workers, who represent about 12% of the facility’s hourly workforce, are expected to vote in December whether to accept the UAW.