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Mercedes Alabama ops ordered to allow workers to discuss unionization

A decision last week by the National Labor Relations Board has bolstered the efforts of the United Auto Workers at Mercedes-Benz's Tuscaloosa, AL factory, as the union continues its attempts to represent the factory's workers. According to Reuters, the NLRB ruled that Mercedes-Benz US International, the proper name of the company behind the Tuscaloosa factory, can no longer prevent workers from discussing unionization in work areas while off the clock. While MBUSI maintains that it's not taking a side on unionization and that it wants the "the decision left to our team members," the UAW is still arguing that the US facility should take the same position on unions that the rest the world's Mercedes-Benz plants take and. Speaking to Reuters, the UAW says that stance "acknowledges the human right to form trade unions" and "respects the right of collective bargaining." According to Reuters, the Alabama factory employs 3,500 workers – 2,500 full time and 1,000 "temporary" – and is the only Daimler-owned factory on the planet not to offer employees the opportunity for representation. Presently, the Tuscaloosa facility assembles Mercedes' C-Class, GL-Class and M-Class vehicles.

2016 Mercedes-Maybach S600 Review [w/video]

"Hindsight is 20/20" is a handy yet disingenuous cliche. The flaw is that hindsight is only instructive up to the moment you would have made a different, perhaps better, decision. At the moment of that deviation the past goes in another direction, one that you can't peer back into because you didn't experience it. So when we say we wish Karl Benz's eponymous firm had produced the Mercedes-Maybach S600 in 2002 instead of the gilded blunder of the separate Maybach brand and its 57 and 62 sedans, we just can't know if the formula would have worked 13 years ago. But we do know the formula adds up superbly right now. A little history: Wilhelm Maybach helped Gottlieb Daimler build a high-speed, four-stroke internal combustion engine in 1885. Eventually Maybach went to work for Daimler's new car company and designed the first Mercedes, the 1901 35-hp model considered the world's first modern car. Maybach left the company after Daimler's death, started a company building zeppelins, then joined his son to start the Maybach car company. Together they developed super luxury cars including the DS8 Zeppelin models that competed with Rolls-Royce. A reviewer in 1933 wrote, "The Maybach Zeppelin models rank among the few cars in the international top class. They are highly luxurious, extremely lavish in their engineering and attainable only for a chosen few." It's a whopping 28 inches shorter than the departed Maybach 62, but 8.2 inches longer than a standard S-Class. As is this Maybach S600. It's a whopping 28 inches shorter than the departed Maybach 62, but since it's 8.2 inches longer than a standard S-Class, there's a very different driving experience. Two-thirds of a foot isn't much, but the Maybach is 639 pounds heavier than an S550, or 231 pounds heavier than a standard S600. From the driver's seat we could feel every additional pound and inch over those other models. It is as if Mercedes threw out the aluminum and steel and chiseled this sedan from basalt. We've driven scanty few cars where we've been genuinely glad for blind-spot detection and 360-degree cameras – this is one of them. The Maybach's wheelbase is four inches longer than that of a Bentley Mulsanne, even though the overall car is almost five inches shorter than the Big B. That long wheelbase translates into tranquil steering response – the S550, S600, and Maybach S600 all have the same 2.3 turns-to-lock, but this sedan feels like it takes more effort. It even looks heavy.

Lewis Hamilton beats Sebastian Vettel in Chinese Grand Prix

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Lewis Hamilton mastered Shanghai's changing conditions and stayed clear of squabbling rivals to win the Chinese Formula One Grand Prix on Sunday. The Briton eased his Mercedes across the line 6.2 seconds ahead of Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel. Max Verstappen, who started 16th, finished a surprise third to hand his Red Bull team their 100th podium. It was Hamilton's 54th career win and a record fifth in Shanghai. But it was the triple champion's first this season and returned Mercedes to the top of the podium after Vettel won last month's season-opening race for a resurgent Ferrari. "I'm so happy with my first win of the year and I can't believe it if I'm honest," said Hamilton after the race, which also handed him his 106th podium, putting him joint second with Alain Prost on the list of drivers with most rostrum results. "What I said to Sebastian as I left the last race ... I said I'm coming back in the next one. When I got on the podium it was like 'I told you'." MOTOR-F1-CHINA/ View 12 Photos Hamilton, who finished second to Vettel in Melbourne, heads into the next race in Bahrain in a week's time tied on points with the German. Mercedes, meanwhile, lead the constructors' standings by one point over Ferrari. Hamilton started from pole position, but the conditions were a bit of a lottery for all the drivers with the track damp in patches but drying quickly. He kept the lead off the line ahead of Vettel, who came under investigation for lining up out of position on his grid slot. The German, though, stayed second, fending off Valtteri Bottas in the other Mercedes, who had started third. Lance Stroll, the 18-year-old rookie, spun off the track on the first lap after making contact with Force India's Sergio Perez. The Canadian beached his Williams in the gravel, bringing out the virtual safety car. Vettel took the opportunity to dive into the pits to change to dry weather tires. His gamble backfired when Antonio Giovinazzi — standing in for Pascal Wehrlein at Sauber — crashed, bringing out the actual safety car two laps later. The four-times world champion found himself bottled up behind Ricciardo and his slower team-mate Kimi Raikkonen, costing him valuable time. As the trio squabbled for position, Hamilton pulled clear at the front. By the time Vettel managed to get past, with a series of spectacular overtaking moves that included banging wheels with his former team-mate, Hamilton was too far ahead.