Unions seek broader foothold in the South as workers vote at an EV battery plant in Kentucky

Ballots are being cast Wednesday over a pivotal decision at a Kentucky manufacturing complex that is producing batteries for electric vehicles. Workers will decide whether to join the United Auto Workers and extend a streak of union victories in the South, where organized labor struggled to find solid footing.

A two-day union vote closes Wednesday, about a week after production began at the BlueOval SK battery park, 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.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear says the complex that sprung up in tiny Glendale — a community of around 2,000 residents an hour south of Louisville — is the single larg