Workers at Tennessee Volkswagen factory ask for vote on representation by United Auto Workers union
DETROIT– Volkswagen’s plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, will likely be the first test of the United Auto Workers’ efforts to organize non-union auto plants across the country.
Workers at the 353,353-square-foot plant filed paperwork with the National Labor Relations Board on Monday requesting union representation elections, the UAW said.
They are the first to ask for a voice in the union’s campaign, which was announced last fall after the UAW won strong contracts with Detroit automakers. The UAW said it would simultaneously target more than a dozen non-union auto factories, including those of Tesla, Nissan, Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai, Kia, Toyota, Honda and others.
The campaign includes nearly 150,000 workers in factories largely in the South, where the union has so far had little success recruiting new members.
The UAW said a vast majority of the VW plant’s roughly 4,000 production workers had signed cards in support of union representation, but declined to provide figures. A union can request an election by the NLRB once a majority of employees support it.
It was not clear when the elections would take place. A message was left seeking comment from the NLRB.
The UAW has said Chattanooga workers who make Atlas SUVs and the ID.4 electric car have complained of mistreatment by Volkswagen management, including mandatory overtime on Saturdays. They also strive for higher wages.
“If we win our union, we can negotiate a safer workplace so people can stay on the job and the company can benefit from our experience,” Chattanooga employee Yolanda Peoples said in a statement from the union.
The union came close to representing workers at the VW factory in two previous elections. In 2014 and 2019, workers narrowly rejected a factory-wide union under the UAW. Some prominent Tennessee Republican politicians had urged workers to vote against the union during both campaigns.
The year after the 2014 vote failed, 160 Chattanooga maintenance workers won a vote to form a smaller union, but Volkswagen refused to negotiate. Volkswagen had argued that the bargaining unit should include production workers. As a result, the 2019 factory-wide vote followed.
In February, the union said a majority of workers at a Mercedes plant in Vance, Alabama, near Tuscaloosa, had also signed union cards. The factory complex in Alabama has approximately 6,100 employees.
The union began its organizing efforts last year after going on strike against General Motors, Ford and Stellantis, earning big raises and other benefits.
After the Detroit Three contracts were approved, many non-union factories announced wage increases for workers.
In November, VW gave workers an 11% raise at the plant, but the union says VW’s wages still lag behind Detroit automakers. Top workers at the Chattanooga assembly plant earn $32.40 an hour, VW said.
The UAW pacts with Detroit automakers include a 25% wage increase by the time the contracts expire in April 2028. With the increase in the cost of living, workers will see approximately 33% in pay increases at a top assembly wage of $42 per hour, plus annual raises. share profits.