TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Workers at two Mercedes-Benz factories near Tuscaloosa, Ala.
The UAW had hoped to continue a run that includes the overwhelming VW win in Chattanooga, Tenn.
The results are a blow to the UAW's organizing efforts a month after the Detroit union won an organizing drive of Volkswagen plant workers in Tennessee.
Workers at a Mercedes-Benz plant in Alabama voted against joining the United Auto Workers, blunting the union's momentum in its organizing drives at many foreign-owned factories.
The UAW had won a historic vote at a Volkswagen plant just last month, but the loss at Mercedes could hamper its organizing plans in the South.
The outcome of a vote on Friday by workers at a Mercedes-Benz factory in Alabama will be a key referendum on whether the United Auto Workers can maintain momentum in the historically anti-union South.