Kentucky Ford EV battery plant workers will vote on whether to unionize
Hourly workers making electric vehicle batteries at Kentucky’s BlueOval SK this week will also decide whether to unionize.
Employees will cast secret ballots Aug. 26 and 27 to join United Auto Workers, one of the largest labor unions in the country, following approval for the vote from the National Labor Relations Board July 31. According to the labor board’s notice of election, ballots will be counted immediately after voting ends Wednesday at 8 p.m.
The worker-led ask for the vote in January was the first move of the year for formal organizing among Southern autoworkers. Since then, EV battery facilities have begun production and some automakers are looking at American factories with interest as the industry takes a hit from President Donald Trump’s administration’s aggressive trade and tariff agenda.
In addition to an industry-wide increase in reliance on a skilled workforce, BlueOval employees have argued they deserve a fair election for collective bargaining to help protect their safety, too.
In May, several whistleblowers said they were exposed to hazardous chemicals, told to use faulty safety equipment and had broken bones while at work.
BlueOval, which is a joint venture from Ford Motor Co. and South Korea-based SK On, started producing batteries Aug. 19 at its Kentucky 1 facility in Glendale. The first battery rolled off the assembly line last Tuesday and will power Ford’s all-electric F-150 Lightning.
Here’s what happened leading up to the vote:
- Before and after workers asked the labor board to conduct an election, company leadership began interrogating staff about their unionization effort, workers said in unfair labor practice filings to the labor board. Detailed information on open cases is not available, but a labor board dashboard shows there were six unfair labor practice complaints filed against BlueOval between November 2024 and July 2025.
- On July 1, the UAW called on the labor board to investigate the companies behind BlueOval for continuously violating labor law and launching “a scorched-earth anti-union campaign designed to scare workers and chill support.”
- In the call for investigation, workers said their bosses had bought anti-union ads, distributed anti-union merchandise and brought in consultants for the sole purpose of exposing new employees to anti-union perspectives. Workers wanted an investigation to ensure their election was completely fair, which the labor board said it qualified for on June 26.
- According to the labor board’s notice of election, ballots will be shuffled and counted immediately following the end of the vote Wednesday at 8 p.m.
Once complete, the plant is set to become the largest electric vehicle battery plant in the world and the second-largest manufacturing site in the country by square feet, according to recent estimates from a study commissioned by the Hardin County Chamber of Commerce.
The site of the battery plant is about 100 miles southwest of Lexington in Hardin County, just outside Elizabethtown. Ford and SK On began building the nearly $6 billion, 1,500-acre campus in 2022. It’s the state’s largest economic development project yet.
At the campus, the auto and battery maker are constructing two plants, each estimated to employ 2,500 people. Production of batteries is only underway at one plant, while the other has had its construction start delayed. At Kentucky 1, about 1,450 people are employed so far.
The Kentucky Center for Economic Policy said in a report a successful union vote would result in significant on-the-job improvement for workers at BlueOval and might cause positive ripple effects across the state because of the weight and history of the auto industry in the commonwealth.
The KyPolicy report said pressure from successful UAW bargaining at Ford’s Kentucky Truck Plant and Louisville Assembly Plant has resulted in non-union plants across the state to boost wages.
At the Louisville Assembly Plant, Ford said Aug. 11 it was investing $2 billion and keeping 2,200 jobs in order to deliver a new midsize, electric pickup truck with an advanced type of battery from Michigan made on an upgraded assembly line at the factory just south of the Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport.
It was through past UAW contract negotiations that the Louisville factory got the EV capital infusion. And Ford is a major reason other parts of the EV supply chain, including the BlueOval campus, have found a home in Kentucky.
Electric vehicles aside, the commonwealth is the No. 1 producer of cars, light trucks and SUVs per capita, according to the state. In 2023, Kentucky’s automotive-related exports totaled $6 billion. There are more than 550 automotive-related companies in Kentucky employing more than 106,000 people.
This story was originally published August 27, 2025 at 4:18 PM.
.JPG)