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

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 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.

The election occurred about a week after production began at the 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 federal agency 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.”

Gov. Andy Beshear says the complex 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 battery complex includes two manufacturing plants but production has started at just one of them.