Disputed ballots could swing outcome of union election at EV battery complex in Kentucky

Key Points

• The outcome of a union election for workers at a Kentucky EV battery complex is uncertain due to 41 disputed ballots that could potentially change the results.
• A narrow initial count showed 526 votes for the union and 515 against, but the National Labor Relations Board must now assess the legitimacy of the challenged ballots.
• The UAW aims to enhance its presence in the South, where unions traditionally struggle, with this election marking its second attempt to organize at the BlueOval SK plant.
• This complex represents a $6 billion joint venture between Ford Motor Co. and South Korean firm SK On, emphasizing its significance for the future of EV production.

An election to determine whether workers unionize an electric vehicle battery manufacturing complex in Kentucky is in limbo Thursday due to a few dozen disputed ballots that could swing the outcome.

The United Auto Workers claimed it secured a narrow victory at the BlueOval SK battery park after the two-day vote that ended Wednesday. Yet the outcome ultimately could depend on 41 challenged ballots that the UAW contended were “illegitimate” and should not be counted. The company urged the National Labor Relations Board, which ran the election, to count each eligible vote because “every voice matters.”

The UAW is hoping to gain another victory at the BlueOval SK complex to expand its foothold in the South and at battery factories that will power the next wave of EVs. Unions have struggled to establish a foothold in the South, where organized labor is much weaker, but the UAW has made inroads.

The election occurred about a week after production began at the sprawling EV battery complex, a nearly $6 billion joint venture between Ford Motor Co. and its South Korean partner, SK On. Batteries from this plant will power the all-electric Ford F-150 Lightning pickup and its EV cargo van, the E-Transit.

The tally was 526 votes for the union and 515 against union representation, the NLRB said Thursday, plus the 41 challenged ballots that it said were sufficient to affect the results. The NLRB will review whether those disputed ballots will be counted.

“We believe they are illegitimate and represent nothing more than an employer tactic to flood the unit and undermine the outcome,” the UAW said in a statement. “We will fight these challenges to defend the democratic choices of these workers, as we always do when corporations try to interfere with workers’ democratic choice.”

The union said that those casting the challenged ballots “are not part of the group of workers who built their union from the bottom up. They deserve to have their own union, in an appropriate bargaining unit with a representative of their own choosing.”

Gov. Andy Beshear says the battery park that sprung up in Glendale — a community of around 2,000 residents an hour south of Louisville — is the single largest economic investment in Kentucky's history. The complex includes two manufacturing plants but production has started at just one of them.

Touting himself as pro-union, Beshear said Thursday that if the complex “ends up being a union facility, I think what the company's going to see is that union workers are some of the best workers. And the ability to attract even more workers will be a positive in the long term for BlueOval.” The second-term Democratic governor is seen as a potential White House contender in 2028.

Those eligible to vote in the union election included all full-time and part-time production and maintenance workers employed at BlueOval SK's Glendale facility during the payroll period ending July 26, the NLRB had said.

Challenged ballots could include safety emergency response staff at the plant. Their eligibility was not determined when the NLRB directed the election. They could vote but their ballots would be challenged with their eligibility resolved afterward, the NLRB said before the election.

Along with pocketbook matters, on-the-job-safety surfaced as a key issue in the campaign. The company says workplace safety is its top priority.

Organized labor has made inroads in the South in places that are not too different from BlueOval.

Workers at a General Motors joint venture electric vehicle battery plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee, joined the union. Workers at a Volkswagen assembly plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, also voted to unionize. In Ohio, workers at another GM joint venture electric vehicle battery factory voted to join the UAW.

The union lost an organizing vote at two Mercedes factories in Alabama last year.

Domestic EV battery production is ramping up as the push toward electrification of the auto industry reaches a crossroads and as Chinese automakers expand across the globe, offering affordable electric vehicles.

Despite the unwinding by President Donald Trump of incentives meant to juice electric vehicles sales, the transition by Big Detroit automakers from internal combustion engines to electric is happening. Trump’s massive tax and spending law targets EV incentives, including the imminent removal of a credit that saves buyers up to $7,500 on a new electric car.

Ford recently said it will invest nearly $2 billion retooling a Louisville, Kentucky, plant to produce electric vehicles that it says will be more affordable, more profitable to build and will outcompete rival models.