Volkswagen employees and union supporters celebrating victory within the union election at Volkswagen’s Chattanooga plant on April 19, 2024.
Stephan Bisaha/Gulf States Newsroom
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Volkswagen employees and union supporters celebrating victory within the union election at Volkswagen’s Chattanooga plant on April 19, 2024.
Stephan Bisaha/Gulf States Newsroom
Employees on the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tenn., have voted overwhelmingly to affix the United Auto Employees, setting a brand new trajectory for labor unions within the American South.
With 3,613 ballots counted, the ultimate tally was 2,628 votes in favor of becoming a member of the UAW, and 985 votes in opposition to. Some 73% of employees voted in favor of unionizing.
The UAW pulled off the resounding victory after two prior defeats in a area deeply skeptical of unions and regardless of repeated warnings from state Republican leaders and the enterprise group that unionizing could be a giant mistake.
From early within the depend, it was clear that the UAW had gained many employees over. Sure votes shortly started outnumbering no votes by about 3 to 1, a lead that held all through the night time.
Quinton North, who assembles battery packs for the Volkswagen ID.4, says he voted sure on becoming a member of the UAW, a reversal from 2019 when he voted in opposition to unionization.
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Quinton North, who assembles battery packs for the Volkswagen ID.4, says he voted sure on becoming a member of the UAW, a reversal from 2019 when he voted in opposition to unionization.
Stephan Bisaha/Gulf States Newsroom
Quinton North, who assembles battery packs for the Volkswagen ID.4 electrical SUV, voted no within the final union election at Volkswagen in 2019, swayed by pervasive anti-union messaging in that marketing campaign.
This time, North voted sure, citing the management of UAW president Shawn Fain as a giant motive.
“He is actually confirmed what he’s — he is for the employees,” he mentioned at a UAW-organized watch social gathering in Chattanooga.
UAW President Shawn Fain speaks with Volkswagen employees at a union watch social gathering in Chattanooga, Tenn., on April 19, 2024.
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UAW President Shawn Fain speaks with Volkswagen employees at a union watch social gathering in Chattanooga, Tenn., on April 19, 2024.
Stephan Bisaha/Gulf States Newsroom
Addressing the watch social gathering crowd after the tally was full, Fain welcomed the Volkswagen employees into the UAW and thanked them for his or her perseverance.
“You all have simply finished an important factor a working class particular person can do, and that is rise up,” he mentioned to loud cheering.
Some 4,300 hourly employees on the plant have been eligible to vote this week. The union wanted a easy majority of votes solid to win the election.
Noting voter turnout of 83.5%, the German automaker issued a brief assertion saying: “Volkswagen thanks its Chattanooga employees for voting on this election.”
Chattanooga plant was beforehand a spot of UAW defeat
All eyes have been on the Volkswagen vote, given two earlier defeats for the UAW’s try to arrange the identical Chattanooga plant in 2014 and 2019. Related efforts at a number of different auto manufacturing vegetation within the South have additionally failed through the years.
One of many key causes is that these jobs have paid properly in comparison with others within the area, and lots of employees have not felt the necessity for union illustration. The truth is, through the years, Southern states lured overseas automakers with not simply a whole bunch of tens of millions of {dollars} in incentives however some assurance that the businesses would not must cope with the UAW in the event that they did not need to.
The pitch labored. Within the final three many years or so, round a dozen overseas auto vegetation have opened up, from Nissan and Toyota to Honda and Mercedes, amongst others. Collectively, they’ve created tens of hundreds of jobs for the Southern financial system.
Politicians warned jobs have been in jeopardy
Republican leaders within the state had warned that these jobs could possibly be misplaced ought to employees be a part of the UAW.
“I imagine it will be a giant mistake for these employees to threat their future by giving up the liberty to determine it themselves and hand that over to a negotiator on their behalf,” mentioned Tennessee Gov. Invoice Lee on a go to to Chattanooga earlier this month.
The UAW’s give attention to the South, backed by $40 million in spending, has drawn concern from different state politicians as properly.
On Tuesday, Lee joined governors from Texas, South Carolina, Mississippi, Georgia and Alabama in a joint assertion talking out in opposition to the union drive.
“The fact is firms have a alternative relating to the place to speculate and convey jobs and alternative,” the assertion mentioned. “Unionization would definitely put our states’ jobs in jeopardy — in truth, on this yr already, the entire UAW automakers have introduced layoffs.”
Tesla, which isn’t unionized, additionally introduced main layoffs this week.
In a press release congratulating the Volkswagen employees on their “historic vote,” President Biden took intention on the politicians.
“Let me be clear to the Republican governors that attempted to undermine this vote: there’s nothing to worry from American employees utilizing their voice and their authorized proper to type a union in the event that they so select,” he wrote.
Volkswagen employees and union supporters anxiously watch the vote depend at a watch social gathering organized by the UAW in Chattanooga, Tenn., on April 19, 2024.
Stephan Bisaha/Gulf States Newsroom
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Volkswagen employees and union supporters anxiously watch the vote depend at a watch social gathering organized by the UAW in Chattanooga, Tenn., on April 19, 2024.
Stephan Bisaha/Gulf States Newsroom
It was the one VW plant on the planet with out employee illustration
In a Q&A on its web site, Volkswagen wrote: “We respect our workers’ proper to determine this necessary situation by means of a democratic course of and to find out who ought to symbolize their pursuits.”
Meeting employee Joshua Treece, who voted sure, mentioned the corporate appeared fairly impartial because the election neared.
“The one adverse stuff would have been from different workers that have been in opposition to it,” he says.
The Chattanooga plant produces Volkswagen’s Atlas SUV and the ID.4, an electrical SUV. Till now, it was the one Volkswagen plant worldwide with out employee illustration.
With the vote at Volkswagen now wrapped up, the union is popping its consideration to the Mercedes-Benz plant in Vance, Ala., the place a union election will start Might 13 for some 5,200 employees.
