The United Automobile Workers union is seeking approval from federal labor regulators for a union election among workers at a Ford Motor battery plant in Kentucky, providing a major test of organized labor’s strength after the election of Donald J. Trump.
The union asked the National Labor Relations Board on Tuesday to allow workers at the new plant in Glendale, about 55 miles south of Louisville, to vote on whether they want to join the UAW. The plant, which is expected to start production this year, is a joint venture between Ford and SK On, a South Korean battery company.
In a statement, the UAW said a “vast majority” of workers at the plant had signed cards expressing their desire to join the union.
“We want to be able to engage with management and have a voice in how the business is run,” said Bill Wilmoth, a production worker at the Glendale plant who helped spearhead the event. “We want an opportunity to negotiate a contract.”
A vote to join the UAW would raise the possibility that workers hired at two other Ford battery plants would also join the union. Those plants — one in Kentucky and the other in Tennessee — are under construction and are also joint ventures between Ford and SK.
BlueOval SK, as the venture is known, said the UAW election petition was “premature” because the plant had not completed hiring workers.
“The UAW is trying to push BlueOval SK into unionization before our full workforce has a chance to make a truly free and informed choice,” BlueOval SK said in a statement. “And none of our team members have had a chance to see how our factory will work since we haven’t started production yet.”
The trade union elections will be held after Mr. Trump becomes president and possibly after his appointees take leadership positions on the labor board. The appointees of Mr. Trump was widely viewed by labor experts as hostile to unions during his first term. The works council often ruled in favor of employers over organized labor.
During the 2024 election campaign, the tension between the UAW and Mr. Trump was high. The union president, Shawn Fain, campaigned vigorously for Vice President Kamala Harris and frequently criticized Mr. Trump, calling him a “scab” and saying union workers would see much more progress under a Harris administration. However, a significant number of UAW members supported Mr. Trump in Michigan and Wisconsin.
Under President Biden, the UAW enjoyed enthusiastic support from the White House. Mr. Biden has publicly supported unions and appeared on a UAW picket line when the auto union strikes against the Michigan-based Big Three automakers — General Motors, Ford and Stellantis — in 2023.
After winning substantial gains in wages and benefits from the three companies, the UAW began campaigning to organize auto plants in the South. He won one vote at the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tenn., but lost another at two Mercedes-Benz plants in Alabama.
A positive vote on BlueOval SK would give the UAW another win in the South and could give the union momentum for votes at the other battery plants that have recently started production or are being built around the country.
The UAW has already organized workers in a battery joint venture between GM and LG Energy Solutions. This joint venture has plants in Warren, Ohio and Spring Hill, Tenn.
Stellantis, the maker of Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram vehicles, builds battery plants in Indiana, which the UAW also hopes to organize.
GM and LG had plans for a third battery plant in Lansing, Mich., but GM is set to sell its ownership stake in that plant, which is under construction, to LG.
