UAW wins big in Volkswagen Tennessee factory union vote By Reuters
Nora Eckert
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (Reuters) – Workers at Volkswagen (ETR:)’s Tennessee plant have voted to join the United Auto Workers. This was a huge victory for the union as it expanded beyond its Detroit base and into the southern and western United States.
A majority of eligible workers voted in favor of the union, and the final tally Friday was 2,628 to 985, or 73% in favor of joining the UAW.
The landslide 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.
It’s also a huge boost to UAW President Shawn Fain’s campaign to unionize plants owned by more than a dozen automakers across the U.S., including Tesla (NASDAQ:). Fain and his team, known for their aggressive negotiation tactics, have pledged to spend $40 million by 2026 to make this happen.
Some of the jubilant workers shed tears and, as the final tally came in, raised their arms in triumph and held high ‘Union Yes’ posters.
“I’m very happy that we actually achieved what we set out to achieve,” Volkswagen employee Lisa Elliott said, hugging her colleagues. She said, “Tell Mercedes he’s next.” she cheered.
The Mercedes plant in Alabama, where a majority of workers signed cards saying they support unionization, will be the next facility to hold UAW elections the week of May 13.
“You all have done the most important thing the working class can do: stand up,” Fain told workers at a count watch party.
“You will lead the way. We will continue this fight at Mercedes and everywhere else,” he added.
The UAW narrowly lost votes at the same plant in 2014 and 2019, but this year’s vote was preceded by a surge in public support for the union and successful contract negotiations with the Big Three automakers last year.
“The margins are overwhelming,” said Harley Shaiken, a labor studies professor at the University of California, Berkeley. “This is a historic moment.”
VW is the only non-union factory in the world to take a neutral stance in voting. The UAW previously represented VW workers at the Pennsylvania plant that produced Rabbit cars until it closed in 1988.
The UAW, which has seen membership decline as Detroit automakers restructure, has staged decades of strikes at South auto plants where anti-union sentiment has long been entrenched. Earlier this week, Republican governors in six Southern states, including Tennessee, spoke out against the union push.
In addition to two previous narrow losses at VW, the UAW has suffered three more significant losses at Nissan-owned Southern plants (OTC:), the last in Mississippi in 2017.
But the broader labor movement has since undergone something of a renaissance, with record numbers of workers across a range of industries going on strike last year.
Last fall, President Joe Biden marched a picket line outside Detroit, where unions received double-digit increases as well as cost-of-living increases from General Motors (NYSE:), Ford Motor (NYSE:) and Stellantis (NYSE:). I did. . That sparked a wave of raises from non-union automakers that some analysts said were designed to discourage unions.
After the vote, Biden rebuked Republican governors, noting several union victories in recent months.
“The union victory helped raise wages and once again proves that the middle class built America and that unions are still building and expanding the middle class for all workers,” he said in a statement.
In addition to the Mercedes plant, the UAW employs more than 30% of the employees at the Hyundai (OTC:) plant in Alabama and the plant in Missouri. toyota (NYSE:) auto parts plants signed cards indicating their intent to join the UAW.
Pro-union workers at Volkswagen plants said they had campaigned for improved workplace safety, better work-life balance and benefits.
“I can rest assured that it’s official now,” said Robert Crump, who has worked at Volkswagen for 12 years and voted yes in all three union elections. “It feels really good.”
