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Volkswagen Workers In Tennessee Pass Historic Vote To Unionize

Volkswagen Workers In Tennessee Pass Historic Vote To Unionize – This historic move happened on Friday in Chattanooga.

On Friday, in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Volkswagen employees made history by passing a historic vote to become members of the United Auto Workers. This is the first auto factory in the South to authorize a union through elections since the 1940s.

The National Labor Relations Board announced late Friday that nearly three-quarters of the 3,613 employees who cast ballots in favor of the three-day referendum did so. This confirms prior reports from Volkswagen and the union. A simple majority was required for the ballot to pass.

The UAW and organized labor, who have struggled for years to unite factories in Southern states, celebrate this vote as a success. In 2014 and 2019, the UAW failed twice in its attempt to unionize the VW plant. The plant will join a few other unionized car companies in the South, where unions have had difficulty gaining traction due to regional laws and customs.

After a coordinated effort led by UAW employees and local VW employees, who promised the union would support them in their quest for greater paid time off, retirement benefits, and health care, the workers were able to win.

“Congratulations to the workers at Volkswagen in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on their historic vote for union representation with the United Auto Workers,” Biden said in a statement issued late Friday night. “I was proud to stand alongside autoworkers in their successful fight for record contracts, and I am proud to stand with autoworkers now as they successfully organize at Volkswagen.”

VW issued a brief statement thanking its employees for participating in the “democratic” election. All the company’s other plants throughout the world are already represented by a union or comparable worker advocacy organization.

The vote lends a boost to the UAW’s ambitious effort to unite a dozen automakers’ Southern operations. Like VW, its other targets are largely foreign-based corporations, such as Honda, Toyota, and Hyundai. Tesla factories in Texas, Nevada, and California are also being targeted.

Mercedes-Benz’s manufacturing facilities in Vance and Woodstock, Alabama, will hold a union election in mid-May. According to the UAW, the vast majority of employees at those facilities have signed union cards.

Republican lawmakers in Tennessee attempted to derail a yes vote by publicly scaring workers that unionization would jeopardize jobs and the region’s economic growth. Governors from six southern states issued a similar united declaration this week.

The UAW has historically represented workers at Detroit’s Big Three automakers — Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis — in facilities primarily located in the Midwest. However, the union’s membership has decreased significantly over the last two decades, leaving the UAW looking for fresh avenues of growth.