Ford workers have filed a petition for a union election at the company’s joint-venture battery plant in Kentucky, potentially marking the first major union election in the South this year.

The workers filed their petition on Wednesday with the National Labor Relations Board with the support of the United Auto Workers. In a statement, UAW said the filing comes after the union secured a supermajority of support through union pledge cards. Workers at the plant in Glendale, Kentucky, said they signed union cards to improve working conditions. 

“The chemicals we’re working with can be extremely dangerous,” Halee Hadfield, a quality operator at the Glendale plant, said in a UAW statement. “If something goes wrong, a massive explosion can occur. With our union, we can speak up if we see there’s a problem and make sure we’re keeping ourselves and the whole community safe.”

The plant, owned jointly by Ford Motor and BlueOval SK, failed to voluntarily recognize the union after the UAW announced it received a supermajority of support in November. BlueOval says the union’s petition is too early, asserting that the UAW is trying to form a union before the entire workforce is present. 

According to BlueOval, the Kentucky plant needs 5,000 workers, but only around 750 have been officially hired. 

If the vote goes its way, this would be the second time the UAW has successfully organized a nonunion shop. 

The union has spent considerable resources the past year to unionize nonunion shops, to mixed results. While the union successfully organized a Volkswagen plant in Tennessee, the union was rebuffed at an Alabama Mercedes plant. 

However, the UAW has secured scattered victories at nonunion battery plants, reaching deals with General Motors at two joint-venture battery facilities in Ohio and Tennessee.

• Vaughn Cockayne can be reached at vcockayne@washingtontimes.com.