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Workers at Volkswagen’s only U.S. plant are voting this week on whether to join the United Auto Workers union, the union’s third attempt to organize the plant.
Voting began Wednesday among 4,100 hourly workers at the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and will run through Friday.
March 20, 2024 at Volkswagen’s auto assembly plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The plant’s 4,100 hourly workers are voting this week on whether to unionize with the UAW. (Ilya Nouberge/Getty Images/Getty Images)
| ticker | safety | last | change | change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Voisy | Volkswagen AG | 15 | +0.00 | +0.00% |
This is the third time in a decade that the UAW has run to represent VW Chattanooga workers, and winning a vote to organize the VW plant would be a significant milestone for the union.
For years, the UAW has tried to organize non-union American auto factories, mostly built by Asian and European automakers in southern states. But the UAW has felt the momentum to expand since last year’s successful simultaneous strikes against three major automakers in Detroit.
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UAW President Sean Fein vowed that the union would “do whatever it takes” to organize nonunion automaker workers. like volkswagenwon record contracts for UAW workers at Ford, GM and Stellantis, followed by deals with Tesla, Toyota, Honda, Mercedes and more.
| ticker | safety | last | change | change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| F | ford motor corporation | 12.04 | -0.05 | -0.41% |
| GM | general motors company | 42.46 | -0.19 | -0.45% |
| STLA | Stellantis NV | 25.79 | -0.01 | -0.04% |
UAW members participate in a rally in support of a union strike at UAW Local 551 Hall on Chicago’s South Side on October 7, 2023. (Jim Vondruska/Getty Images/Getty Images)
In 2019, VW workers at the plant rejected union representation by a vote of 833 to 776. The Chattanooga plant is Volkswagen’s only non-union plant in the world.
“We respect the democratic process and the right of workers to decide who should represent their interests,” Volkswagen told FOX Business in a statement after announcing the latest vote. “We fully support the NLRB’s vote, so all team members have the opportunity to vote in privacy on this important decision.”
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Volkswagen announced in November that it would increase employee salaries. factory workers in tennessee The 11% increase comes in addition to several other foreign automakers that announced significant pay and compensation improvements following the UAW’s agreements with three major automakers.
Volkswagen’s Chattanooga, Tennessee, plant is the only non-union plant in the world. (Friso Gentsch/picture Alliance via Getty Images / Getty Images)
The day before voting began at the VW Chattanooga plant, the Republican governors of Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas issued a joint statement opposing the UAW’s push to unionize the South.
“Unionizing would undoubtedly put our state’s jobs at risk; in fact, all UAW automakers have already announced layoffs this year,” the governor’s statement said.
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“In America, we value our workforce and we don’t need to pay a third party to decide who picks up the box or turns on the switch. No one wants to hear that, but this is the ugly reality.” The statement continued. . “We’ve seen this play out every time foreign automakers’ factories unionize, and none of those factories are operational.”
FOX Business’ Eric Revell and Reuters contributed to this report.
