BY THERESA MAHER - 04/20/24
US President Joe Biden at the United Auto Workers (UAW) conference in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024. (Photographer: Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
President Biden celebrated the “historic vote” Friday for workers at a Tennessee Volkswagen plant to join the United Auto Workers (UAW) union.
“Congratulations to the workers at Volkswagen in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on their historic vote for union representation with the United Auto Workers,” Biden said Friday in a statement.
The accolades come after factory workers at the Chattanooga, Tenn., Volkswagen plant voted Friday evening to join the UAW, in a decision that could signal even further momentum in organized labor following a year of high-profile strikes and major contractual wins for workers.
“I was proud to stand alongside auto workers in their successful fight for record contracts, and I am proud to stand with auto workers now as they successfully organize at Volkswagen,” the White House statement said.
Biden became the first sitting president in U.S. history to join the picket line on behalf of UAW workers during a UAW strike last year involving the “Big Three” Detroit automakers — Ford, General Motors (GM) and Jeep-maker Stellantis.
Biden, who received the UAW’s endorsement for his reelection bid in January, has also billed himself as the “most pro-union president in American history.”
The vote’s results were announced just two days after governors for six Southern states, including Tennessee, came out against the union vote in a letter. The push posed a threat to “jobs” and “values,” the governors of Tennessee, Texas, South Carolina, Mississippi, Georgia and Alabama argued.
“As Governors, we have a responsibility to our constituents to speak up when we see special interests looking to come into our state and threaten our jobs and the values we live by,” the group wrote.
Biden slammed the letter in his statement Friday, calling it an attempt “to influence workers’ votes by falsely claiming that a successful vote would jeopardize jobs in their states.”
“Let me be clear to the Republican governors that tried to undermine this vote,” the president added. “There is nothing to fear from American workers using their voice and their legal right to form a union if they so choose.”
The Friday vote made workers at the Volkswagen Chattanooga plant “the first Southern autoworkers outside of the Big Three to win their union,” the UAW cheered in a press release announcing the vote.
The UAW also took to social media platform X to celebrate the vote’s success, writing in a post that, “Volkswagen workers just made history! #StandUpUAW.”
US President Joe Biden at the United Auto Workers (UAW) conference in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024. (Photographer: Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
President Biden celebrated the “historic vote” Friday for workers at a Tennessee Volkswagen plant to join the United Auto Workers (UAW) union.
“Congratulations to the workers at Volkswagen in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on their historic vote for union representation with the United Auto Workers,” Biden said Friday in a statement.
The accolades come after factory workers at the Chattanooga, Tenn., Volkswagen plant voted Friday evening to join the UAW, in a decision that could signal even further momentum in organized labor following a year of high-profile strikes and major contractual wins for workers.
“I was proud to stand alongside auto workers in their successful fight for record contracts, and I am proud to stand with auto workers now as they successfully organize at Volkswagen,” the White House statement said.
Biden became the first sitting president in U.S. history to join the picket line on behalf of UAW workers during a UAW strike last year involving the “Big Three” Detroit automakers — Ford, General Motors (GM) and Jeep-maker Stellantis.
Biden, who received the UAW’s endorsement for his reelection bid in January, has also billed himself as the “most pro-union president in American history.”
The vote’s results were announced just two days after governors for six Southern states, including Tennessee, came out against the union vote in a letter. The push posed a threat to “jobs” and “values,” the governors of Tennessee, Texas, South Carolina, Mississippi, Georgia and Alabama argued.
“As Governors, we have a responsibility to our constituents to speak up when we see special interests looking to come into our state and threaten our jobs and the values we live by,” the group wrote.
Biden slammed the letter in his statement Friday, calling it an attempt “to influence workers’ votes by falsely claiming that a successful vote would jeopardize jobs in their states.”
“Let me be clear to the Republican governors that tried to undermine this vote,” the president added. “There is nothing to fear from American workers using their voice and their legal right to form a union if they so choose.”
The Friday vote made workers at the Volkswagen Chattanooga plant “the first Southern autoworkers outside of the Big Three to win their union,” the UAW cheered in a press release announcing the vote.
The UAW also took to social media platform X to celebrate the vote’s success, writing in a post that, “Volkswagen workers just made history! #StandUpUAW.”
Factory workers vote to unionize at Tennessee Volkswagen plant
BY TOBIAS BURNS - 04/19/24
Olivia Ross, Chattanooga Times Free Press via Associated Press, File
A “We stand with the UAW” sign appears outside of the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tenn., on Dec. 18, 2023. Workers at at the Tennessee factory are scheduled to finish voting on April 19, 2024, on whether they want to be represented by the United Auto Workers union.
Factory workers at a Volkswagen plant in Tennessee voted Friday evening to join the United Auto Workers (UAW), an election that could signal more momentum in organized labor following a year of high-profile strikes and major contractual wins for workers.
The vote at the Chattanooga plant, announced by UAW in a post on their website, was a direct challenge to states with “right to work” laws, which generally make it more difficult to unionize. Many such states are located in the South.
More than 4,000 Volkswagen workers were eligible to vote in the election, but only 84 percent — about 3,620 — employees cast ballots. Seven of them were challenged and three were voided, per a post on social media platform X from the union’s lawyer.
The UAW, which has narrowly lost two elections at the Tennessee plant over the past decade, isn’t shying away from the regional dimension of the labor fight, encouraging “Southern workers to stand up.”
“Mercedes workers in Alabama just filed for their election. And non-union autoworkers across the South are getting ready to stand up and join them,” the UAW says on its website.
Republican Southern governors came out against the union vote in a letter this week, writing that the union push threatens “jobs” and “values.”
“We have a responsibility to our constituents to speak up when we see special interests looking to come into our state and threaten our jobs and the values we live by,” the governors of Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, and Tennessee wrote in a Tuesday letter.
A UAW strike last fall at the former “big three” Detroit automakers of Ford, General Motors and Stellantis saw workers secure major contractual wins including the restitution of cost of living adjustments that peg salaries to inflation, bonuses for retirees, and the elimination of wage tiers.
President Biden became the first sitting president in U.S. history to join the picket line on behalf of UAW workers during their strike.
“These historic contracts reward the autoworkers who have sacrificed so much with record raises, more paid leave, greater retirement security, and more rights and respect at work,” the White House said in a statement in November.
Labor experts have noted the historical resistance to different forms of organized labor in the South and say the Volkswagen vote is especially significant as a result.
“This is a problem they’ve had for probably close to 400 years,” Cornell University labor expert Arthur Wheaton told The Hill.
The popularity of organized labor in the U.S. is near 50-year highs, with 67 percent approving of unions in 2023, according to data by polling agency Gallup.
After a bout of high inflation following the pandemic and a cost-of-living crunch felt notably in food prices and housing costs, the UAW and other labor organizers have been seizing on this popularity to increase their influence.
“Over 10,000 non-union autoworkers have signed union cards in recent months, with public campaigns launched at VW, Mercedes in Vance, Ala., Hyundai in Montgomery, Ala., and Toyota in Troy, Mo. Workers at more than two dozen other facilities are also actively organizing,” the union said in a news release.
Steff Thomas contributed reporting.
Factory workers at a Volkswagen plant in Tennessee voted Friday evening to join the United Auto Workers (UAW), an election that could signal more momentum in organized labor following a year of high-profile strikes and major contractual wins for workers.
The vote at the Chattanooga plant, announced by UAW in a post on their website, was a direct challenge to states with “right to work” laws, which generally make it more difficult to unionize. Many such states are located in the South.
More than 4,000 Volkswagen workers were eligible to vote in the election, but only 84 percent — about 3,620 — employees cast ballots. Seven of them were challenged and three were voided, per a post on social media platform X from the union’s lawyer.
The UAW, which has narrowly lost two elections at the Tennessee plant over the past decade, isn’t shying away from the regional dimension of the labor fight, encouraging “Southern workers to stand up.”
“Mercedes workers in Alabama just filed for their election. And non-union autoworkers across the South are getting ready to stand up and join them,” the UAW says on its website.
Republican Southern governors came out against the union vote in a letter this week, writing that the union push threatens “jobs” and “values.”
“We have a responsibility to our constituents to speak up when we see special interests looking to come into our state and threaten our jobs and the values we live by,” the governors of Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, and Tennessee wrote in a Tuesday letter.
A UAW strike last fall at the former “big three” Detroit automakers of Ford, General Motors and Stellantis saw workers secure major contractual wins including the restitution of cost of living adjustments that peg salaries to inflation, bonuses for retirees, and the elimination of wage tiers.
President Biden became the first sitting president in U.S. history to join the picket line on behalf of UAW workers during their strike.
“These historic contracts reward the autoworkers who have sacrificed so much with record raises, more paid leave, greater retirement security, and more rights and respect at work,” the White House said in a statement in November.
Labor experts have noted the historical resistance to different forms of organized labor in the South and say the Volkswagen vote is especially significant as a result.
“This is a problem they’ve had for probably close to 400 years,” Cornell University labor expert Arthur Wheaton told The Hill.
The popularity of organized labor in the U.S. is near 50-year highs, with 67 percent approving of unions in 2023, according to data by polling agency Gallup.
After a bout of high inflation following the pandemic and a cost-of-living crunch felt notably in food prices and housing costs, the UAW and other labor organizers have been seizing on this popularity to increase their influence.
“Over 10,000 non-union autoworkers have signed union cards in recent months, with public campaigns launched at VW, Mercedes in Vance, Ala., Hyundai in Montgomery, Ala., and Toyota in Troy, Mo. Workers at more than two dozen other facilities are also actively organizing,” the union said in a news release.
Steff Thomas contributed reporting.
UAW wins big in historic union vote at Volkswagen Tennessee factory
UAW wins big in historic union vote at Volkswagen Tennessee factory
Volkswagen factory workers' unionization vote results watch party in Chattanooga
Nora Eckert
Updated Fri, April 19, 2024
UAW wins big in historic union vote at Volkswagen Tennessee factory
Volkswagen factory workers' unionization vote results watch party in Chattanooga
Nora Eckert
Updated Fri, April 19, 2024
By Nora Eckert
CHATTANOOGA, Tennessee (Reuters) -Workers at Volkswagen's Tennessee plant have voted to join the United Auto Workers, in a seismic victory for the union as it drives beyond its Detroit base into the U.S. South and West.
A majority of eligible workers cast ballots in favor of the union, with the final tally on Friday at 2,628 to 985, or 73% for joining the UAW.
The landslide win will make the Chattanooga factory the first auto plant in the South to unionize via election since the 1940s and the first foreign-owned auto plant in the South to do so.
It is also a huge shot in the arm for UAW President Shawn Fain's campaign to unionize plants owned by more than a dozen automakers across the U.S., including Tesla. Fain, known for his aggressive bargaining tactics, and his team have committed to spending $40 million through 2026 on the effort.
Jubilant workers, some in tears, raised their arms in victory and held aloft "Union Yes" posters as the final tally came in.
"I'm exhilarated that we actually accomplished what we set out to accomplish," said VW employee Lisa Elliott as she hugged her coworkers. "Tell Mercedes they’re next," she cheered.
A Mercedes plant in Alabama, at which a majority of workers have signed cards indicating they support unionization, will be the next facility to hold a UAW election, during the week of May 13.
"You all have just done the most important thing a working class person can do, and that is stand up," Fain told workers at the count watch party.
"You guys will lead the way. We will carry this fight on to Mercedes and everywhere else," he added.
Although the UAW narrowly lost votes at the same plant in 2014 and 2019, this year's vote was preceded by surging public support for unions and successful contract negotiations last year with the Big Three automakers.
"The margin is overwhelming," said Harley Shaiken, professor of labor at the University of California, Berkeley. "This is a historic moment."
VW took a neutral position on the vote at its only non-union factory globally. The UAW has previously represented VW workers at a Pennsylvania plant that built Rabbit cars before it closed in 1988.
The UAW - which has seen its membership fall as Detroit automakers restructured - has for decades struck out at southern auto plants, where anti-union sentiment has long been entrenched. Earlier this week Republican governors in six southern states including Tennessee spoke out in opposition to the union drive.
In addition to the two narrow losses at VW previously, the UAW sustained three more significant misses at southern factories owned by Nissan, the last in 2017 in Mississippi.
But the broader labor movement has since gone through somewhat of a renaissance, with a record number of workers across various industries going on strike last year.
Last autumn U.S. President Joe Biden walked picket lines outside Detroit, where the union scored double-digit percentage raises as well as cost-of-living increases from General Motors, Ford Motor and Stellantis. That sparked a wave of hikes by non-union automakers that some analysts said were designed to keep out unions.
Biden rebuked the Republican governors after the vote, citing several union victories in recent months.
"These union wins have helped raise wages and demonstrate once again 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 has said that more than 30% of employees at a Hyundai plant in Alabama and at a Missouri Toyota auto parts factory have signed cards indicating they want to join the UAW.
Pro-union workers at the VW plant say they have campaigned to secure improved safety on the job, better work-life balance and improved benefits.
"Now that it’s official I can relax," said Robert Crump, who has worked at VW for 12 years, and voted yes in all three union elections. "It’s a really good feeling."
(Reporting by Nora Eckert; Editing by Peter Henderson and Edwina Gibbs)
CHATTANOOGA, Tennessee (Reuters) -Workers at Volkswagen's Tennessee plant have voted to join the United Auto Workers, in a seismic victory for the union as it drives beyond its Detroit base into the U.S. South and West.
A majority of eligible workers cast ballots in favor of the union, with the final tally on Friday at 2,628 to 985, or 73% for joining the UAW.
The landslide win will make the Chattanooga factory the first auto plant in the South to unionize via election since the 1940s and the first foreign-owned auto plant in the South to do so.
It is also a huge shot in the arm for UAW President Shawn Fain's campaign to unionize plants owned by more than a dozen automakers across the U.S., including Tesla. Fain, known for his aggressive bargaining tactics, and his team have committed to spending $40 million through 2026 on the effort.
Jubilant workers, some in tears, raised their arms in victory and held aloft "Union Yes" posters as the final tally came in.
"I'm exhilarated that we actually accomplished what we set out to accomplish," said VW employee Lisa Elliott as she hugged her coworkers. "Tell Mercedes they’re next," she cheered.
A Mercedes plant in Alabama, at which a majority of workers have signed cards indicating they support unionization, will be the next facility to hold a UAW election, during the week of May 13.
"You all have just done the most important thing a working class person can do, and that is stand up," Fain told workers at the count watch party.
"You guys will lead the way. We will carry this fight on to Mercedes and everywhere else," he added.
Although the UAW narrowly lost votes at the same plant in 2014 and 2019, this year's vote was preceded by surging public support for unions and successful contract negotiations last year with the Big Three automakers.
"The margin is overwhelming," said Harley Shaiken, professor of labor at the University of California, Berkeley. "This is a historic moment."
VW took a neutral position on the vote at its only non-union factory globally. The UAW has previously represented VW workers at a Pennsylvania plant that built Rabbit cars before it closed in 1988.
The UAW - which has seen its membership fall as Detroit automakers restructured - has for decades struck out at southern auto plants, where anti-union sentiment has long been entrenched. Earlier this week Republican governors in six southern states including Tennessee spoke out in opposition to the union drive.
In addition to the two narrow losses at VW previously, the UAW sustained three more significant misses at southern factories owned by Nissan, the last in 2017 in Mississippi.
But the broader labor movement has since gone through somewhat of a renaissance, with a record number of workers across various industries going on strike last year.
Last autumn U.S. President Joe Biden walked picket lines outside Detroit, where the union scored double-digit percentage raises as well as cost-of-living increases from General Motors, Ford Motor and Stellantis. That sparked a wave of hikes by non-union automakers that some analysts said were designed to keep out unions.
Biden rebuked the Republican governors after the vote, citing several union victories in recent months.
"These union wins have helped raise wages and demonstrate once again 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 has said that more than 30% of employees at a Hyundai plant in Alabama and at a Missouri Toyota auto parts factory have signed cards indicating they want to join the UAW.
Pro-union workers at the VW plant say they have campaigned to secure improved safety on the job, better work-life balance and improved benefits.
"Now that it’s official I can relax," said Robert Crump, who has worked at VW for 12 years, and voted yes in all three union elections. "It’s a really good feeling."
(Reporting by Nora Eckert; Editing by Peter Henderson and Edwina Gibbs)
Biden Congratulates Tennessee Auto Plant on Historic Unionization Drive
Jeremy Childs
Sat, April 20, 2024
A Volkswagen factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee voted to unionize Friday night, the first auto manufacturing facility to unionize in the American South since the 1940s.
President Joe Biden issued a congratulations to the newly-formed union, which received 73 percent votes in favor among 3,613 workers, for “their historic vote for union representation with the United Auto Workers.”
“I was proud to stand alongside auto workers in their successful fight for record contracts, and I am proud to stand with auto workers now as they successfully organize at Volkswagen,” Biden said in a statement.
Last year, Biden oversaw historic strikes by UAW at the Big Three automakers: Ford Motor Company, General Motors, and Stellantis, resulting in massive gains for the union. United Auto Workers formally endorsed Biden for President earlier this year, along with other prominent labor unions.
Biden also condemned a letter co-signed by six Republican governors that claimed the union vote would hurt jobs in their respective states.
“Let me be clear to the Republican governors that tried to undermine this vote: there is nothing to fear from American workers using their voice and their legal right to form a union if they so choose,” Biden said.
The heavily anti-union sentiment from top state leadership among Southern states reflects the uphill battle faced by the Volkswagen union drive, which had twice been defeated as recently as 2019, the Associated Press reported. Not only is the union the first to pass a vote in the South since World War II, it is also the first foreign-owned auto manufacturer to do so in the region, according to Reuters.
In an interview with the Associated Press, UAW President Shawn Fain said the success of the Big Three bargaining and larger union movement last year has given momentum in previously non-unionized locations.
“All we’ve heard for years is ‘we can’t win here, you can’t do this in the south,’ and you can,” Fain said.
Rolling Stone
VW workers vote for union in Tennessee in major win for organized labor
Kate Gibson
Updated Sat, April 20, 2024
Workers at a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, voted overwhelmingly to join the United Auto Workers, becoming the first Southern autoworkers outside of the Big Three to do so in a region long resistant to unionization.
Almost three-quarters of 3,613 workers voted for UAW representation in the three-day election, the National Labor Relations Board confirmed late Friday, after announcements by the union and Volkswagen.
The outcome is huge win for the UAW, which had twice previously failed to unionize the Chattanooga facility and which has for decades faced an uphill climb organizing workers in Southern states. The vote also gives the UAW added momentum in its campaign to unionize a dozen, mostly foreign automakers in the South. The initiative follows a historic six-week strike last fall against Ford, General Motors and Stellantis that led to major wage gains.
"The real fight begins now. The real fight is getting your fair share, the real fight is the fight to get more time with your family, the real fight is to fight for our union contract," UAW President Shawn Fain told VW workers celebrating their victory at a union hall in Chattanooga.
With the victory, the Volkswagen factory becomes the only unionized foreign commercial carmaker in the U.S. It's also the first auto plant to join the UAW since its action targeting the Big Three automakers in Detroit.
"This election is big," VW worker Kelcey Smith said in a statement distributed by the UAW. "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."
The UAW declared victory as votes continued to be tallied, with the NLRB confirming 2,628 for and 985 opposed, or 73% to 27%. The ballot required a simple majority to pass. The results will be certified if no objections are filed within five days.
VW thanked its workers for voting in the "democratic election," the company said in a brief statement.
"Congratulations to the workers at Volkswagen in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on their historic vote for union representation with the United Auto Workers," President Biden said in a statement late Friday.
"Pivotal moment"
Despite the obstacles to organizing labor in the South, "The UAW showed last night we need to go and rethink all those negative statements that we've been telling workers that it can't be done," Sharon Block, professor and executive director the Center for Labor and a Just Economy, Harvard University Law School, said on Saturday in a call organized by the Economic Speakers Bureau.
"Companies like VW have a long legacy of going to the South to chase those lower wages. I've interviewed workers who thought it was illegal to unionize in the South," said Alex Hertel-Fernandez, associate professor of international and public affairs at Columbia University.
"This is a pivotal moment for the workers in Chattanooga, but much more broadly for workers in the South and for organized labor more generally," Harley Shaiken, a professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, told CBS MoneyWatch.
The chances for a UAW win were seen as high, given that about 70% of the plant's workers pledged to vote in favor of unionization before it requested the vote, according to the union. Voting that began on Wednesday concluded Friday at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
"We are going to win this, with the support we've gotten over the past week from our co-workers, from people who were on the fence," Victor Vaughn, an employee at the plant for nearly two years and a member of the organizing committee, said before the ballots were counted. "We are very intelligent, hard workers, family-oriented and we care about our jobs. That is what we're doing throughout the South."
People celebrate while watching the vote tally at a United Auto Workers (UAW) vote watch party on April 19, 2024, in Chattanooga, Tennessee. / Credit: Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images
Job safety and health care costs are two of the primary issues that workers at the plant hope to address, Vaughn added. At the time VW proposed an 11% wage increase late last year, workers were unaware the company planned to hike health insurance premiums 15%, Vaughn said.
"That was a shock to a lot of us," he said.
"If they can't organize at Volkswagen, you'd have to question their ability to organize at any of these Southern auto plants," John Logan, chair of labor and employment studies at San Francisco State University, told CBS MoneyWatch.
A regional foothold?
The UAW for decades has unsuccessfully attempted to organize at auto factories in the South, making progress only at a few heavy truck and bus plants in the region. The vote is the UAW's third try at the plant, where workers narrowly spurned union membership in both 2014 and 2019. The UAW was also defeated in a 2017 vote at a Nissan plant in Canton, Mississippi.
The UAW win gives the union a key foothold in the region, where organizing usually means fighting not only the company but the entire community, including the political and business establishment, Logan said.
"When we secure our contract with the UAW, I think it is going to open the door for so many other plants, Mercedes-Benz included," said Vaughn, referencing an upcoming election next month by autoworkers at Mercedes plant in Vance and Woodstock, Alabama.
Earlier in the week, the governors of six states — Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas — decried the unionization effort, saying it jeopardized jobs.
"Interest in the UAW has been fueled by spectacular gains in the Detroit Three contract talks last year. Almost all 13 of the non-union automakers have boosted wages to diminish interest in organizing and these gains are widely referred to as the 'UAW bump,' Shaiken said. "Paradoxically, automakers are confirming the UAW does deliver."
In the case of Germany's Volkswagen, which has unionized workers around the globe, the opposition to the UAW's efforts has been less fierce than those seen with other corporate entities, Logan noted.
In fact, the Chattanooga plant is Volkswagen's sole facility of about 120 globally that does not have some form of employee representation.
Fain thanked a VW German works council — an elected group of employees who collaborate with a company's management on behalf of workers — for going to bat for the UAW in its campaign in Chattanooga.
"That's what a global movement looks like, these companies are global, they take us on globally, and we have to stand together and fight back globally, and that's what we are doing now," he said.
Jeremy Childs
Sat, April 20, 2024
A Volkswagen factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee voted to unionize Friday night, the first auto manufacturing facility to unionize in the American South since the 1940s.
President Joe Biden issued a congratulations to the newly-formed union, which received 73 percent votes in favor among 3,613 workers, for “their historic vote for union representation with the United Auto Workers.”
“I was proud to stand alongside auto workers in their successful fight for record contracts, and I am proud to stand with auto workers now as they successfully organize at Volkswagen,” Biden said in a statement.
Last year, Biden oversaw historic strikes by UAW at the Big Three automakers: Ford Motor Company, General Motors, and Stellantis, resulting in massive gains for the union. United Auto Workers formally endorsed Biden for President earlier this year, along with other prominent labor unions.
Biden also condemned a letter co-signed by six Republican governors that claimed the union vote would hurt jobs in their respective states.
“Let me be clear to the Republican governors that tried to undermine this vote: there is nothing to fear from American workers using their voice and their legal right to form a union if they so choose,” Biden said.
The heavily anti-union sentiment from top state leadership among Southern states reflects the uphill battle faced by the Volkswagen union drive, which had twice been defeated as recently as 2019, the Associated Press reported. Not only is the union the first to pass a vote in the South since World War II, it is also the first foreign-owned auto manufacturer to do so in the region, according to Reuters.
In an interview with the Associated Press, UAW President Shawn Fain said the success of the Big Three bargaining and larger union movement last year has given momentum in previously non-unionized locations.
“All we’ve heard for years is ‘we can’t win here, you can’t do this in the south,’ and you can,” Fain said.
Rolling Stone
VW workers vote for union in Tennessee in major win for organized labor
Kate Gibson
Updated Sat, April 20, 2024
Workers at a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, voted overwhelmingly to join the United Auto Workers, becoming the first Southern autoworkers outside of the Big Three to do so in a region long resistant to unionization.
Almost three-quarters of 3,613 workers voted for UAW representation in the three-day election, the National Labor Relations Board confirmed late Friday, after announcements by the union and Volkswagen.
The outcome is huge win for the UAW, which had twice previously failed to unionize the Chattanooga facility and which has for decades faced an uphill climb organizing workers in Southern states. The vote also gives the UAW added momentum in its campaign to unionize a dozen, mostly foreign automakers in the South. The initiative follows a historic six-week strike last fall against Ford, General Motors and Stellantis that led to major wage gains.
"The real fight begins now. The real fight is getting your fair share, the real fight is the fight to get more time with your family, the real fight is to fight for our union contract," UAW President Shawn Fain told VW workers celebrating their victory at a union hall in Chattanooga.
With the victory, the Volkswagen factory becomes the only unionized foreign commercial carmaker in the U.S. It's also the first auto plant to join the UAW since its action targeting the Big Three automakers in Detroit.
"This election is big," VW worker Kelcey Smith said in a statement distributed by the UAW. "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."
The UAW declared victory as votes continued to be tallied, with the NLRB confirming 2,628 for and 985 opposed, or 73% to 27%. The ballot required a simple majority to pass. The results will be certified if no objections are filed within five days.
VW thanked its workers for voting in the "democratic election," the company said in a brief statement.
"Congratulations to the workers at Volkswagen in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on their historic vote for union representation with the United Auto Workers," President Biden said in a statement late Friday.
"Pivotal moment"
Despite the obstacles to organizing labor in the South, "The UAW showed last night we need to go and rethink all those negative statements that we've been telling workers that it can't be done," Sharon Block, professor and executive director the Center for Labor and a Just Economy, Harvard University Law School, said on Saturday in a call organized by the Economic Speakers Bureau.
"Companies like VW have a long legacy of going to the South to chase those lower wages. I've interviewed workers who thought it was illegal to unionize in the South," said Alex Hertel-Fernandez, associate professor of international and public affairs at Columbia University.
"This is a pivotal moment for the workers in Chattanooga, but much more broadly for workers in the South and for organized labor more generally," Harley Shaiken, a professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, told CBS MoneyWatch.
The chances for a UAW win were seen as high, given that about 70% of the plant's workers pledged to vote in favor of unionization before it requested the vote, according to the union. Voting that began on Wednesday concluded Friday at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
"We are going to win this, with the support we've gotten over the past week from our co-workers, from people who were on the fence," Victor Vaughn, an employee at the plant for nearly two years and a member of the organizing committee, said before the ballots were counted. "We are very intelligent, hard workers, family-oriented and we care about our jobs. That is what we're doing throughout the South."
People celebrate while watching the vote tally at a United Auto Workers (UAW) vote watch party on April 19, 2024, in Chattanooga, Tennessee. / Credit: Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images
Job safety and health care costs are two of the primary issues that workers at the plant hope to address, Vaughn added. At the time VW proposed an 11% wage increase late last year, workers were unaware the company planned to hike health insurance premiums 15%, Vaughn said.
"That was a shock to a lot of us," he said.
"If they can't organize at Volkswagen, you'd have to question their ability to organize at any of these Southern auto plants," John Logan, chair of labor and employment studies at San Francisco State University, told CBS MoneyWatch.
A regional foothold?
The UAW for decades has unsuccessfully attempted to organize at auto factories in the South, making progress only at a few heavy truck and bus plants in the region. The vote is the UAW's third try at the plant, where workers narrowly spurned union membership in both 2014 and 2019. The UAW was also defeated in a 2017 vote at a Nissan plant in Canton, Mississippi.
The UAW win gives the union a key foothold in the region, where organizing usually means fighting not only the company but the entire community, including the political and business establishment, Logan said.
"When we secure our contract with the UAW, I think it is going to open the door for so many other plants, Mercedes-Benz included," said Vaughn, referencing an upcoming election next month by autoworkers at Mercedes plant in Vance and Woodstock, Alabama.
Earlier in the week, the governors of six states — Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas — decried the unionization effort, saying it jeopardized jobs.
"Interest in the UAW has been fueled by spectacular gains in the Detroit Three contract talks last year. Almost all 13 of the non-union automakers have boosted wages to diminish interest in organizing and these gains are widely referred to as the 'UAW bump,' Shaiken said. "Paradoxically, automakers are confirming the UAW does deliver."
In the case of Germany's Volkswagen, which has unionized workers around the globe, the opposition to the UAW's efforts has been less fierce than those seen with other corporate entities, Logan noted.
In fact, the Chattanooga plant is Volkswagen's sole facility of about 120 globally that does not have some form of employee representation.
Fain thanked a VW German works council — an elected group of employees who collaborate with a company's management on behalf of workers — for going to bat for the UAW in its campaign in Chattanooga.
"That's what a global movement looks like, these companies are global, they take us on globally, and we have to stand together and fight back globally, and that's what we are doing now," he said.
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