Kelcey Smith displays UAW buttons in Chattanooga, Tennessee on April 10, 2024.
Kevin Wurm | The Washington Post | Getty Images
Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga, Tennessee, voted overwhelmingly to join the United Auto Workers, marking a major milestone for the union and its first successful organizing effort by an automaker outside of Detroit’s Big Three.
According to the National Labor Relations Board, which oversaw the election, the labor organization passed with 73 percent of the vote, or 2,628 workers, in support of the UAW. A total of about 3,620, or about 84%, of the 4,326 eligible VW workers voted in the election, the NLRB said. Seven ballots were contested and another three were invalidated.
“In a historic victory, the vast majority of Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga, Tennessee, voted to join the UAW,” the union said in a statement Friday evening before the official results were released by the NLRB. “As the votes continue to be counted, the result is clear: Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga are the first Southern autoworkers outside of the Big Three to win their union.”
The NLRB has yet to certify the outcome, but barring any unforeseen problems or challenges, the company is required to bargain in good faith with the union. Talks can be direct or go through a mediator first.
According to the NLRB, parties have five business days to file objections to the election. In the absence of disputes the result will be certified.
VW confirmed the UAW’s victory in a statement Friday evening but offered little additional comment.
“We will await certification of the results by the NLRB,” the company said. “Volkswagen thanks its Chattanooga workers for voting in this election.”
UAW leaders and supporters are expected to use the victory as a launching point for the union’s unprecedented organizing campaign of 13 automakers in the United States, following major contracts won last year with General Motors, Ford Motor and Stellantis , parent company of Chrysler.
President Joe Biden, who has strongly supported organized labor and the UAW, congratulated the union on its “historic vote.”
“Across the country, union members have seen major victories and big increases, including auto workers, actors, dock workers, truckers, writers, warehouse workers and healthcare workers and more. Together, these union victories have helped raise wages and demonstrate once again that the middle class built America and that unions are still building and expanding the middle class for all workers,” Biden said in a statement.
In this aerial view, a Volkswagen automobile assembly plant is seen on March 20, 2024 in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Elia Nouvelage | Getty Images
UAW President Shawn Fain and others saw this week’s vote as the union’s best chance to organize the VW plant after strikes and record contracts at Detroit automakers. Those agreements included a significant salary increase, reinstatement of cost-of-living adjustments and other benefits.
The successful organizing drive comes just days after six Republican governors from Southern states, including Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, released a joint statement condemning the UAW’s push to organize in their states.
“We have worked tirelessly on behalf of our constituents to bring good-paying jobs to our states. These jobs have become part of the fabric of the auto manufacturing industry. Unionization would certainly jeopardize our states’ jobs – in fact , in this case already a year, all UAW automakers have announced layoffs,” the note reads.
The UAW previously failed to organize the Volkswagen plant in 2014 and 2019 as it faced increased external political pressure and worker opposition. Five years ago workers rejected union membership by just 833 votes to 776.
UAW President Shawn Fain greets members attending a rally in support of the union strike at UAW Local 551 on the South Side on October 7, 2023 in Chicago, Illinois.
Jim Vondruska | Getty Images
The union will now aim to negotiate with VW. It will also examine the advance organizational vote of Mercedes-Benz workers at an SUV plant in Vance, Alabama.
Workers at the facility earlier this month filed NLRB paperwork for a formal election to join the UAW. Voting for 5,200 workers will take place May 13-17, the NLRB announced Thursday.
“The first thing you have to do to win is believe that you can win,” Fain told Mercedes-Benz workers last month. “That this job can be better. That your life can be better. And that these things are worth fighting for. That’s why we oppose it. That’s why you’re here today. Because deep down, you believe it’s possible.”
Fain had previously promised to move beyond the Big Three and expand to the “Big Five or Big Six” by the time its four-and-a-half-year contracts with the Detroit automakers expire in 2028.