Volkswagen employees in Tennessee who are hoping to join the United Automobile Workers asked a federal agency on Monday to hold an election, a key step toward the union’s longtime goal of organizing nonunion factories across the South.
With the union’s backing, Volkswagen workers filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board asking for a vote on U.A.W. representation, saying that more than 70 percent of the 4,000 eligible workers at the plant had signed cards supporting the union.
“Today, we are one step closer to making a good job at Volkswagen into a great career,” Isaac Meadows, an assembly worker at the plant, said in a statement.
If held, an election would be the first test of the U.A.W.’s newfound strength after staging a wave of strikes in the fall against the three Detroit automakers — General Motors, Ford Motor and Stellantis — and winning record wage increases.
The U.A.W. has been hoping to use momentum from its bargaining with the Detroit-based manufacturers to organize nonunion plants in Southern states that pay significantly lower wages than union factories. The U.A.W. says it plans to spend $40 million over the next three years on its campaign.
Chattanooga workers have voted on U.A.W. representation twice before, and slim majorities rejected unionization each time. In a 2014 vote, the union had no opposition from Volkswagen management, but there was vocal resistance from state Republican leaders, who suggested that unionizing would jeopardize expansion and job growth at the plant. A second narrow loss came in 2019.
In addition to the Volkswagen effort, union campaigns are underway at a Mercedes-Benz plant and a Hyundai factory, both in Alabama. The union says more than half of the Mercedes workers and more than 30 percent of the Hyundai workers have signed cards supporting U.A.W. membership.
A simple majority is needed to win representation, but the union says it has advised workers at the plants to get the support of more than 70 percent of the hourly workers and establish a robust organizing committee before seeking an election.
Volkswagen workers said they wanted to join the U.A.W. to push for higher wages, more time off and improved safety measures. The Chattanooga factory opened in 2011 and makes the Atlas full-size S.U.V. and the ID.4 electric vehicle. It is the world’s only Volkswagen plant without union representation.
“VW has partnered with unionized work forces around the world to make their plants safe and successful,” Victor Vaughn, a logistics worker, said in a statement. “That’s why we’re voting for a voice at Volkswagen here in Chattanooga.”
A Volkswagen official told reporters last month that the company would stay neutral during a Chattanooga election campaign, but that “neutral doesn’t mean silent — it means impartial to what employees decide.”
The U.A.W. has sought for years to organize nonunion auto plants in the South, where it has had to overcome right-to-work laws and widespread suspicion of organized labor. But unions have had a resurgence in recent years, often with encouragement from the Biden administration.
The U.A.W. in particular has gained strength after winning lucrative contracts with G.M., Ford and Stellantis. All three companies agreed to roughly 25 percent wage increases for workers making the top U.A.W. wage, and even larger raises for workers further down on the pay scale.
Within a few years, almost all of the 146,000 U.A.W. workers at the Detroit companies will earn more than $40 an hour — the equivalent of about $83,000 a year for those working 40 hours a week.
The Volkswagen plant announced an 11 percent pay increase shortly after the strikes at the Big Three, bringing the top hourly wage for production workers to $32.40.
Nonunion auto plants generally start new workers at less than $20 an hour and pay a top wage under $30 an hour.
