Current Events > VW workers vote to unionize at Chattanooga plant

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/04/19/vw-uaw-tennessee-vote/

Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga, Tenn., passed a historic vote to join the United Auto Workers, the union said Friday, becoming the first Southern auto factory to approve a union with an election since the 1940s.

The unions unofficial vote count, which still must be confirmed by federal labor officials conducting the ballot, showed 73 percent of workers had voted yes by 10 pm E.T. on Friday night. It will take a simple majority for the vote to pass.

The vote marks a victory for the UAW and for organized labor, which has faced years of difficulty organizing factories in Southern states. The UAW has twice previously failed to unionize the VW plant, in 2014 and 2019. The plant will join a handful of other unionized auto factories in the South, where local laws and customs have made it hard for unions to make inroads.

The victory came after a concerted campaign by local VW workers, assisted by UAW staff, who rallied workers to their cause by pledging that the union would help them fight for better health care and retirement benefits and more paid time off.

The union campaign also delivers a political victory for President Biden, who won the UAWs endorsement earlier this year and has supported union expansion efforts.

The National Labor Relations Board is s expected to issue the formal results later Friday.

Bump

This is good assuming VW doesn't close the plant in response.

Personally though it's Tesla that I REALLY want to see unionize.

May this be the first in a long string of victories for worker unions.

What's great about this is it wasn't even like the unionization effort barely succeeded. The workers overwhelmingly voted to unionize. That should inspire a lot of confidence that unionization efforts in other parts of the South can succeed and send a message to employers that they've got to treat their workers well if they don't want their own employees to unionize.

Enclave posted...

This is good assuming VW doesn't close the plant in response.

VW being a German company, basically all their plants are unionized.

VW already makes a ton of their vehicles in Mexico, but good for the workers in TN.

God bless

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tOkcbI5dvI

Aren't the likes of Starbucks and Tesla currently trying to have Republican judges effectively destroy the NLRB? This victory may well be fleeting.

SpawnShadow posted...

Aren't the likes of Starbucks and Tesla currently trying to have Republican judges effectively destroy the NLRB? This victory may well be fleeting.

Getting rid of the NLRB wouldn't liquidate existing unions

niceu

Antifar posted...

VW being a German company, basically all their plants are unionized.

How a company acts in one country (even if it's their home country) doesn't mean that's how they'll act in another country. Always prepare for the worst from a corporation.