A decisive vote against the United Auto Workers union at two Mercedes factories in Alabama on Friday sidetracked the UAW’s grand plan to sign up workers at nonunion plants mainly in the

A high-stakes union election is underway at a Mercedes-Benz plant near Tuscaloosa, Alabama, the only plant for the luxury automaker in North America.

The election, fiercely opposed by the state’s political leaders, was seen as a test of the United Automobile Workers’ ability to unionize factories in the South.

The vote was 2,642 to 2,045 against joining the United Auto Workers, according to the National Labor Relations Board.

The United Autoworkers Union (UAW) in the US has suffered a defeat in its campaign to expand membership to car factories in the American south.Mercedes-Benz workers in Alabama voted 2,642-2,045 against joining the union,

The final count among Mercedes-Benz factory workers was 2,045 in favor and 2,642 against, according to the National Labor Relations Board.

The unofficial tally Friday afternoon in Tuscaloosa showed 2,642 "no" votes and 2,045 "yes" votes or 56% against and 44% for the union.

The outcome of a vote on Friday by workers at a Mercedes-Benz factory in Alabama will be a key referendum on whether the United Auto Workers can maintain momentum in the historically anti-union South.

U.S. workers at a Mercedes-Benz plant in Alabama handed a stinging loss to the United Auto Workers on Friday, rejecting the union in a vote it had expected would build on a win at a Tennessee Volkswagen plant and push it deeper into the U.