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The majority of employees at the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, have voted in favor of a union. This is a historic victory, as the southern US has long been hostile to union representation. The United Auto Workers (UAW) has been trying to gain a foothold there for many decades.
The union received 73 percent of the votes. Once the result has been formally ratified by the government agency NLRB, Volkswagen must start collective negotiations on pay and employment conditions.
The UAW currently represents about 370,000 auto sector workers in the US, a lot less than the 1.5 million in the 1970s. The union is finding it difficult to gain a foothold, especially in the southern US. Previous attempts to install union representation at VW in Chattanooga have failed twice. The American factory was the only Volkswagen factory where the staff had no representation.
US President Joe Biden congratulated VW workers and described the vote as “historic”. “This proves the growing strength of unions over the past year,” he said. After a weeks-long strike at General Motors, Ford and Stellantis, the United Auto Workers was able to demand higher wages and better working conditions last year.
The UAW now hopes to gain representation in even more factories. “Volkswagen is the first domino to fall, I think this will start a chain reaction,” said chairman Shawn Fain. A vote is scheduled for May at the Mercedes-Benz plant in Alabama, where management is strongly opposed to a union. The UAW has also not yet succeeded in obtaining representation at Tesla.
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