Various Sources
In an historic victory for organized labor, employees at the Volkswagen factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee have overwhelmingly voted to join the United Auto Workers (UAW) union. This momentous decision marks the UAW’s first successful organizing drive of an automaker outside of Detroit’s Big Three.
The UAW has been striving to organize auto factories in the South for decades, facing severe challenges in a region where organizing often involves not only the intense opposition of the company but also the entire political establishment.
This vote at the Chattanooga plant was the UAW’s third attempt. Workers narrowly rejected union membership in both 2014 and 2019. Additionally, the UAW faced defeat in a 2017 vote at a Nissan plant in Canton, Mississippi.
The outcome of this vote is of immense importance. The Volkswagen factory will become the only unionized foreign commercial carmaker in the U.S. Furthermore, this is the first vehicle plant to join the UAW since the record-breaking wage gains achieved after a strike against the Big Three automakers in the fall.
A UAW win in Chattanooga will provide the union with a crucial foothold in the South, where organizing efforts encounter significant resistance. The governors of six states - Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas - have all attacked unionization efforts.
The Chattanooga plant was the only one among Volkswagen’s approximately 120 global facilities that lacks some form of employee representation, showing just how far behind workers in the US south have been put by their politicians and "right to work" laws.
This election is big,” said Kelcey Smith, a worker in the paint department at Volkswagen said in a UAW press release. “People in high places told us good things can’t happen here in Chattanooga. They told us this isn’t the time to stand up, this isn’t the place. But we did stand up and we won. This is the time; this is the place. Southern workers are ready to stand up and win a better life.”
“We saw the big contract that UAW workers won at the Big Three and that got everybody talking,” said Zachary Costello, a trainer in VW’s proficiency room. “You see the pay, the benefits, the rights UAW members have on the job, and you see how that would change your life. That’s why we voted overwhelmingly for the union. Once people see the difference a union makes, there’s no way to stop them.”
“This is a movement for every blue-collar worker in America,” said Doug Snyder, a body worker at Volkswagen. “Our vote shows that workers everywhere want a better life on and off the job. Fair pay is important, but so is time with our families. So is a voice for safety in our plant. We’re looking forward to getting to the bargaining table with the company and winning a contract that makes things right at Volkswagen.”