More than 300 workers at the Yanfeng USA’s Riverside facility outside Kansas City, Missouri, voted to join the International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW) Local 710. This is the sixth Yangfeng facility to organize with the UAW, joining more than 1,000 union members at the company’s facilities in Highland Park, Romulus and Monroe, Michigan; Ontario, Canada; and McCalla, Alabama.

The Yanfeng workers are organizing to put an end to low pay, the lack of seniority rights, understaffed shifts and little to no work-life balance. Workers of color also claim to have been discriminated against by management.

“This struggle was about fair treatment for every worker and holding management accountable,” said Sharon Gilliam, a Yanfeng worker who helped lead the organizing drive. “We want every worker to be educated and informed of their rights and to empower them on the shop floor, and this is the first step.”

Author: Kenneth Quinnell First posted on the AFL-CIO’s website.