Chrysler?s contract with the United Automobile Workers union is unclear on the issue of using what are known as card checks to unionize American plants owned by the Mercedes division. In a card check, the union gathers cards from employees designating that more than half of the work force wants to join, and the company, while not obligated to recognize this process, may choose to do so. In a union summary of the Chrysler pact it was reported that DaimlerChrysler had agreed to card checks at all of its plants in the United States. However, executives now claim that the contract does not cover Mercedes.
See "Union Organizing Remains Muddled in Chrysler Pact", Danny Hakim, The New York Times, October 6, 2003