UAW scores union victory with action at Volkswagen plant in Tennessee

Workers at a Volkswagen plant in Tennessee voted to join the United Auto Workers, winning after an unofficial count showed a large number of eligible workers voted for the union, the union said Friday.

If the win is confirmed, the Chattanooga plant would be the first auto plant in the South to be elected by election since the 1940s and the first foreign-owned auto plant in the South to do so.

The union chose the election after about 2,200 votes were counted in favor of the union. There are approximately 4,300 eligible voters at the plant.

The victory is a major victory for UAW President Shawn Fain’s campaign to unionize the plants of more than a dozen car manufacturers in the United States, including Tesla. Fain and his team have committed to spending $40 million on this effort by 2026.

Although the UAW narrowly lost votes at one plant in 2014 and 2019, this year’s vote follows strong public support for unions and successful contract negotiations with the big three automakers last year.

VW remained neutral in the vote at its only non-union factory in the world. The UAW previously represented VW workers at the Pennsylvania plant that built Rabbit cars before it closed in 1988.

The union has been on strike in the southern auto industry for decades. In addition to the two defeats for VW, it has scored another important victory in Nissan’s southern factories, most recently in Mississippi in 2017.

The trade union movement in general has since experienced something of an awakening. Last year, a large number of workers in various industries went on strike.

Last year, US President Joe Biden walked the ballot line outside Detroit, where the union won double-digit increases and cost-of-living increases at General Motors, Ford Motor and Stellantis. That sparked a wave of wage increases among non-union automakers that some analysts said were aimed at stifling unions.

The next UAW election will be held the week of May 13 at the Mercedes plant in Alabama where many workers have signed on to support the union.

The UAW also said more than 30% of workers at a Hyundai plant in Alabama and a Toyota auto parts plant in Missouri have signed cards indicating they want to join the UAW.