Local 259 Members at Mercedes Manhattan Rally Against Anti-Union Firings

Service technicians at Mercedes Benz Manhattan rallied with UAW Local 259 on Monday to put pressure on the dealership’s owner to agree to a first collective bargaining agreement. Workers voted to unionize in May, and the new union members say that management has done everything it can to discourage workers from supporting the unionization effort.

Even before they were endorsed by the NYC CAP Council, all three UAW-endorsed candidates for New York City mayor—Brad Lander, Jessica Ramos, and Zohran Mamdani—showed up to support the Mercedes workers on the picket line.

“We got total pushback in every shape, form and fashion,” Kevin Flowers, a technician at the Mercedes dealership, said of management’s posture prior to the union election. “Every day they kept badgering us, every day they kept telling us how bad the union is." Read more about Local 259’s fight in the Chief Leader.

In the News:

• The Chief Leader: Mercedes service technicians call out anti-union firings (Dec. 6)