Mercedes-Benz workers in Alabama voting on whether to join UAW
CBSN
Alabama is front and center this week as the United Auto Workers looks to build on recent victories in the South, a region long hostile to organized labor.
More than 5,000 Mercedes-Benz workers began voting Monday at a manufacturing factory in Vance as well as at a battery plant in nearby Woodstock. The balloting, which continues through Friday morning, comes on the heels of an overwhelming win at a Volkswagen plant in Tennessee after two failed attempts since 2014.
"It is potentially a milestone event. What the UAW stands to gain is an acceleration of momentum for organizing the other 11 nonunion automakers," Harley Shaiken, professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, told CBS MoneyWatch.
The Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday that the U.S. food supply is still "one of the safest in the world," in the wake of a number of foodborne disease outbreaks affecting items ranging from organic carrots to deli meats to McDonald's Quarter Pounders. E. coli, listeria and other contaminants have sickened thousands of people and forced a number of recalls in recent months.
We just had another election with a clear and verifiable victor, overseen by hundreds of thousands of election officials. Those public servants have suffered years of harassment, and despite their successes, are still being accused of taking part in a massive and impossible conspiracy — a conspiracy led by the party out of power to steal an election and cover up all evidence.
Washington — Former Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz is meeting with senators on Capitol Hill on Wednesday as he seeks to shore up support for his nomination for attorney general amid calls for the House Ethics Committee to release a report on allegations he engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use.