VW employees to vote on becoming a member of UAW union in Tennessee

DETROIT — Volkswagen employees in Chattanooga, Tennessee, will vote this week on whether or not to prepare with the United Auto Staff in a key check of the union’s sway.

A victory would give the UAW its first main automaker win exterior General Motors, Ford Motor, and Chrysler father or mother Stellantis. It might additionally provide a launching level for the union’s unprecedented organizing campaign of 13 automakers within the U.S. following main contract wins in 2023 with the Detroit firms.

A loss would mark the Detroit-based union’s newest organizing failure following a long time of unsuccessful drives exterior the Massive Three, together with on the Tennessee VW plant in 2014 and 2019. It additionally can be a significant setback for the UAW and President Shawn Fain, who was elected in 2023 as a reform candidate following a yearslong federal corruption scandal involving former union leaders.

Greater than 4,000 VW employees are eligible to vote, starting Wednesday and ending at 8 p.m. EDT on Friday. The organizing vote, which is being overseen by the National Labor Relations Board, will want a easy majority to succeed.

Fain and others see this week’s vote because the union’s greatest shot at organizing the VW plant following the document contracts and strikes on the Detroit automakers, which launched Fain to worldwide prominence because the face of the union final 12 months.

The UAW’s document contracts with the three main Detroit automakers is the largest distinction between the present union drive and former efforts at Volkswagen, stated Stephen Silvia, author of “The UAW’s Southern Gamble: Organizing Staff at Overseas-Owned Car Crops.”

“That is by far the perfect probability for the UAW out of all its drives at Chattanooga,” he stated.

Silvia, a professor at American College in Washington, D.C., stated the political circumstances, firm messaging, and Fain’s management all created a extra favorable surroundings for the union than it had throughout earlier organizing drives.

Volkswagen, which has union employees at non-U.S. crops, has stated it is going to let its employees decide whether or not to prepare. The corporate stated it has solely acted to make clear data it felt was deceptive or incorrect associated to points similar to wages and advantages, however it has not publicly opposed union organizing. It additionally launched a marketing campaign known as “Vote for the workplace you want,” encouraging all workers to take action.

“We respect our employees’ proper to a democratic course of and to find out who ought to symbolize their pursuits,” VW stated in an announcement. “We totally help an NLRB vote so each workforce member has an opportunity to a secret poll vote on this essential choice. Volkswagen is pleased with our working surroundings in Chattanooga that gives a few of the greatest paying jobs within the space.”

Along with much less political strain within the right-to-work state, there are additionally fewer organized efforts towards the union than throughout prior drives. One group known as “VW Chatt employees, for VW Chatt employees” in latest weeks began opposing UAW organizing, together with a “Still No UAW” website.

A member of the group who requested to not be recognized on account of repercussions if UAW organizing is profitable stated he fears the union might trigger issues on the plant, together with the potential for layoffs as if employees win extra advantages throughout negotiations.

The meeting worker, who has greater than 10 years on the plant, stated it isn’t assured that the German automaker will conform to the identical wages and advantages as GM, Ford and Stellantis.

“The Massive Three, they obtained a good contract … however we’re not the Massive Three,” stated the veteran employee. “They’re greater firms [in the U.S.] and when contracts come into play with negotiations, it isn’t going to be the identical.”

He stated this UAW organizing drive feels completely different than the previous two as a result of there’s much less exterior political strain, the union has new management and organizing ways and extra new employees are supporting the union on the plant.

VW employees filed for the election in March after a supermajority of them signed union playing cards, in response to the UAW. The VW employees reached a majority in early February — two months after launching their public marketing campaign to hitch the UAW.

In contrast to prior organizing efforts, the union is utilizing a grassroots, or bottom-up, drive led by employees on the plant slightly than leaders on the worldwide union. The technique has helped messaging, Silvia stated.

In 2019, VW employees on the Chattanooga plant rejected union illustration in an 833-776 vote.

“Proper now, we simply want a voice within the plant. Proper now, we’re topic to the whims of the corporate,” stated Isaac Meadows, an meeting employee who has been on the VW plant for 14 months. “There are loads of points that we wish to have a say in, and by coming collectively to type our union, it places us ready to cut price all that stuff.”

Meadows stated he makes $27 an hour and that his prime priorities are pay, advantages and extra day off.

VW manufacturing employees on the plant earn between $23.40 per hour and $32.40 per hour, with a four-year ramp as much as prime wages, in response to the corporate.

UAW-negotiated wages this 12 months for the Detroit carmakers vary between about $25 an hour and $36 an hour for manufacturing employees, together with estimated cost-of-living changes. By the tip of the UAW contracts in 2028, prime wages are anticipated to surpass $42 an hour for manufacturing employees.

“The man constructing the Ford Explorer, he is value about double to Ford as to what we’re to Volkswagen,” stated Meadows. He added that “all people was watching” the result of the UAW’s talks with the Detroit automakers.

The UAW has used the brand new wages and different advantages as rallying requires non-organized auto employees to hitch the union.

VW is one of 13 non-union automakers within the U.S. that the UAW set its sights on late final 12 months after securing document contracts with the Detroit automakers. The drive covers practically 150,000 autoworkers throughout BMW, Honda, Hyundai, Lucid, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Rivian, Subaru, Tesla, Toyota, Volkswagen and Volvo.

Manufacturing unit employees at Mercedes Benz’s meeting plant in Alabama earlier this month filed NLRB paperwork for a proper election to hitch the UAW.

“The very first thing you have to do to win is to consider you can win,” Fain instructed Mercedes-Benz employees final month. “That this job might be higher. That your life might be higher. And that these issues are value preventing for. That’s the reason we get up. That is why you are right here in the present day. As a result of deep down, you consider it is doable.”

Fain beforehand vowed to maneuver past the Massive Three and increase to the “Big Five or Big Six” by the point its 4½-year contracts with the Detroit automakers expire.