ONE Volkswagen Workers celebrate the results of the vote to establish a union. (Beautiful images)
CHATTANOOGA, Tennessee – Workers at Volkswagen’s Tennessee plant have voted to participate Auto workers unitedin a seismic victory for the union as it pushed beyond its Detroit base into the Southern and Western United States.
A majority of eligible workers voted in favor of the union, with the final tally on Friday 2,628 to 985, or 73% in favor of joining a union. UAW.
A victory would make the Chattanooga plant the first auto plant in the South to unionize through elections since the 1940s and the first foreign-owned auto plant in the South to do so.
The victory is a major boost for UAW President Shawn Fain’s campaign to unionize factories owned by more than a dozen automakers across the United States, including Tesla. Fain and his team have committed $40 million to this effort through 2026.
Jubilant workers, some in tears, raised their hands in victory and held up “Union Yes” posters as the results were announced.
“I’m very happy that we’ve actually accomplished what we set out to do,” he said. VW employee Lisa Elliott as she hugs her co-worker. “Tell Mercedes They’re next,” she cheered.
A Mercedes plant in Alabama, where a majority of workers have signed cards saying they support unionization, will be the next to host a UAW election the week of May 13.
Although the UAW narrowly lost votes at the same plant in 2014 and 2019, this year’s vote comes in the face of growing public support for unions and successful contract negotiations last year with the Big Three automakers.
“The amplitude is overwhelming,” said Harley Shaiken, professor of labor at the University of California, Berkeley. “This is a historic moment.”
VW remained neutral in the vote at the only non-union plant globally. The UAW previously represented VW workers at a plant in Pennsylvania where construction took place Rabbit car before it closed in 1988.
For decades, unions have attacked auto plants in the South, where anti-union sentiment has long run deep. Earlier this week, Republican governors in six southern states including Tennessee spoke out against the union effort.
In addition to the two previous small losses at VW, the UAW also suffered three more significant losses at southern plants owned by VW. Nissanthe last time in 2017 in Mississippi.
But the broader labor movement has since experienced somewhat of a renaissance, with record numbers of workers across various industries striking last year.
Last fall America President Joe Biden walk along the lines of protesters outside Detroit, where unions have achieved double-digit percentage increases as well as cost-of-living increases from General motive, Ford Engine and Stellantis. That has triggered a wave of wage hikes by non-union automakers that some analysts say are aimed at discouraging unions.
Biden rebuked Republican governors in a statement after the vote. Mr. Biden, who is running for re-election this year, said: “I will continue to stand with American workers and fight the Republican Party’s efforts to weaken the voice of workers.”
In addition to the Mercedes plant, the UAW also said more than 30% of employees at a Hyundai plants in Alabama and in Missouri Toyota The auto parts factory signed a card saying it wanted to join the UAW.
Pro-union workers at the VW plant say they have campaigned to ensure improved job safety, better work-life balance and improved benefits.
“Now that it’s official, I can rest easy,” said Robert Crump, who has worked at VW for 12 years. He voted yes in all three union elections. “It’s a really good feeling.”
