The Kentucky autoworkers, who want to join the United Auto Workers, filed for a union election Tuesday, a key development in the union’s campaign to organize Southern auto-factories and EV battery facilities.

The BlueOval SK plant, owned by a partnership of South Korea's SK On and Ford, is the latest battery battleground for the union.

The UAW union has petitioned the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to hold an election at the BlueOval SK battery plant in Kentucky.

Workers at a Ford Motor Co.-backed electric vehicle plant have petitioned to unionize with the United Auto Workers, the union announced, calling it the UAW’s first major filing in the South this year.

Workers at a Ford Motor Co. joint-venture battery plant in Kentucky have formally asked the federal government to hold a vote on joining the United Auto Workers, the union said.

A supermajority of workers at BlueOval SK filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board for a vote to form their union with the UAW.

The United Automobile Workers union asked a federal labor regulator to conduct an election at a factory Ford jointly owns with a South Korean battery company.