NLRB general counsel meets with Michigan auto parts workers organizing with UAW

Webasto production employee Trina Towns speaking about union efforts at the company's Detroit facility. July 29, 2024. Photo by Jon King.

The woman tasked with enforcing U.S. labor law sat down Monday with workers from two Detroit-area auto parts plants — one that recently secured its first UAW contract, and the other still working toward union recognition.

National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo met with the group of workers with Webasto, a German-owned maker of sunroofs, battery charging and air conditioning systems, at the UAW Local 174 hall in Livonia.

While 550 workers at the Webasto–Detroit plant are currently organizing to join the UAW, more than 200 UAW members at the Webasto–Pilot Road plant in Plymouth won their union election in 2023 and voted in March to ratify their first contract with a 96% approval rate , including raises of up to 51% over three years, with improved benefits, and attendance policies. They are members of Local 3000 in Woodhaven.

Both plants make parts used in Ford Broncos manufactured at the Michigan Assembly Plant in nearby Wayne, whose workers are UAW members.

Abbruzzo said her agency represented the rights of all workers, not just those in a union, but reiterated that the 1935 National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), which the NLRB is tasked with enforcing, was explicitly written to benefit the rights of workers.

“Elections have consequences,” said Abruzzo. “I was with the agency for 23 years before [former President Donald] Trump came in, and then I was no longer with the agency. And I’m grateful to President [Joe] Biden for nominating me and for Vice President Harris for not only once, but twice breaking the (U.S. Senate) tie to get me in. So I always felt a sense of urgency from the minute I got back in, trying to really effectuate our congressional mandate, which is a full pro-worker statute. That’s what we’re concerned about.”

According to a UAW release, documents filed with the U.S. Department of Labor indicated that Webasto spent over $300,000 for “an anti-union consulting firm to try to block workers from forming a union with the UAW.”

When asked for comment by the Michigan Advance, Anna Mueller, Webasto’s vice president for communications, disputed the UAW’s description of consulting firm, saying instead that they hired “an objective third-party organization offering comprehensive labor education seminars to our colleagues and management to provide full and undisputed facts on their rights and the implications of union membership.”

Mueller said the firm was hired to ensure there would be no credible allegations of unfair labor practices or interference.

“This initiative is not about dissuading or incentivizing colleagues, but rather ensuring our colleagues have all necessary information to make a choice that aligns with their personal and professional goals and rights,” she said, adding that the company implemented a strong code of conduct and comply with all national, federal and international labor regulations.

“As a matter of fact, we therefore dispute any accusations that state otherwise,” said Mueller. “At Webasto, we hold our culture and values in high regard, which includes fostering a direct and open dialogue with our team members. Equality of opportunity and equality of treatment form the foundation of our culture. This mindset has won Webasto a Top Employer award two years in a row. Our priority remains to uphold a workplace environment that is fair, respectful and empowering for all.”

Regardless, the UAW says workers at Webasto–Detroit have reported management opposition to the union drive, although there have yet to be any signs of “outside anti-union consultants.” They say workers are watching for signs of illegal anti-union activity as they work toward a vote on whether or not to join the UAW.

One of the Webasto workers at Monday’s roundtable was Cat Blackburn, who works in quality gauging at the Plymouth plant. She told Abruzzo about management efforts to try and prevent workers from unionizing, while simultaneously warning fellow employees at the Detroit plant what they could expect in their efforts to join the UAW.

“We need to make sure we know our rights, that people know that we have the right to get a union and be able to talk about it, because they will discourage it,” said Blackburn, who also served as secretary to her union local. “They’ll bring in union busters to try to tell us what’s wrong with the union. So they gotta be real careful.”

Among the complaints the Webasto workers spoke out against included mandatory overtime they said left some people working six and even seven days a week, as well as overbearing management that intimidated workers by openly berating them.

“When we come to work, we should come to work happy, not stressed or depressed,” said Trina Towns, a production worker at the Detroit facility.

Towns described one supervisor who constantly yelled at them as if they were children, which she said ironically ended up hampering their overall productivity.

“When she was off this past weekend,  everybody was here working, and we met our numbers,” said Towns. “And that’s how it’s supposed to be, not come talk to us like we’re animals. People are upset. You can just feel it in the atmosphere. It’s like a hostile environment.”

Abruzzo said the types of complaints related by the Webasto workers were very commonplace, whether or not a workplace was involved in unionizing or not.

“Because of the low union density in this country, the vast majority of charges that we actually do get involve protected concerted activity without a union presence,” she said. “There’s plenty of HR [human resources] reps that similarly think, ‘Well, your statute [the NLRA] doesn’t cover us because we’re not unionized,’ and I’m like, ‘Oh yeah, it does’ and then I advise them about protected concerted activity like two people can get together and complain about somebody. You can’t retaliate against them, but it happens way too much. That’s why we’re trying to do a lot of education.”

That lack of education, according to Abruzzo, largely had to do with there being no mandate to inform workers of their rights.

“Unlike other statutes, the rights under the NLRA — the right to organize, the right to unionize, collectively bargain, engage in other protected consumer entities — employers are not mandated to post those rights anywhere or otherwise advise their workers of those rights,” she said. “Unlike all the other worker protection statutes like OSHA [Occupational Safety and Health Administration] or Title 7 or the ADA [Americans with Disabilities Act] … they’re not required. There must have been a lot of lobbying going on back in 1935. So that’s another reason why people really don’t know their rights. They don’t know they have the right to unionize and that we’re here to protect that right and hold people accountable when they violate it.”

However, the NLRB has reported that in the past year, there has been a 32% increase in union filings, while workers are also winning union elections at rates approaching 80%, as opposed to just a few years ago when they averaged about two-thirds.

Towns, who is helping to lead the union effort at Webasto’s Detroit factory, said she’s ready to take the chance for a better workplace, especially after seeing fellow employees lose their jobs for what she felt were arbitrary reasons.

And if that meant ultimately losing her own job?

“If it takes that, at least I know I stood up for something,” she said.

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