Federal programs to promote EVs have gotten a lot more uncertain under Donald Trump,

but efforts to unionize the industry are charging ahead.

From American Public Media, this is Marketplace Tech.

I'm Megan McCarty Carrino. The Southeast region of the U.S. has become something of a hub for electric vehicle and battery manufacturing investment.

The industry is expected to create almost 75,000 jobs, according to a report from the Southern

Alliance for Clean Energy. The United Auto Workers want to make sure those are union jobs.

After winning strong contracts with the Big Three automakers in 2023, the UAW has revved up

efforts to organize the EV sector in the South.

One win came a couple years ago when the UAW and General Motors signed an agreement

covering GM's battery plants.

Here's UAW President Sean Fane.

GM has now agreed in writing to place their electric battery manufacturing under our national master

agreement. Now, a supermajority of workers at Blue Oval S.K has asked the Federal Labor Board for a vote

to join the UAW. As Lisa Autry from WKYU reports, the target is a sprawling campus in rural Kentucky

that, once completed, will be one of the largest EV battery plants in the world.

The nearly $6 billion electric vehicle battery campus in Glendale, Kentucky is part of a joint

venture between Ford and

South Korea's S.K. On. It's not up and running yet, but early hires say they're exposed to hazards

on the job, including production operator Alicia Miller. We have actually had cells catch fire.

You would think a plan as large as this, we would have some sort of fire drill.

We don't even know where the emergency exits are. That's why workers are trying to unionize.

Blue Oval S.K. declined an interview, but said in a statement its safety protocols are robust and

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