The workers at VW’s US plant in Chattanooga have decided to organize themselves into a union on the third attempt. It is a major victory for the US union UAW, which wants to expand its influence beyond the three American car giants. Some people present had tears in their eyes when the result was announced, and many held up banners. “I’m overwhelmed that we’ve achieved what we set out to do,” said VW employee Lisa Elliott, hugging her colleagues and shouting: “Tell Mercedes, they’re next.” At the Mercedes plant in Alabama, the vote on union representation is scheduled for mid-May.
According to VW and the union, 73 percent of workers voted to be represented by the UAW in the vote that ended Friday. The result still has to be confirmed by the US authority NLRB.
The union has failed twice in recent years to organize workers at the Tennessee plant. In general, the union has also had a difficult time in the southern US states and in the factories of foreign car manufacturers. It has also not managed to gain a foothold at the electric car manufacturer Tesla.
US President Biden also called on VW workers to vote
But the UAW is currently on the rise: Last fall, after a weeks-long strike, it pushed through better working conditions and income increases of around 25 percent at the US companies General Motors, Ford and Stellantis. US President Joe Biden clearly sided with the union and called on VW workers to vote. The Republican governors of six southern US states, including Tennessee, spoke out against the union at the beginning of the week. The VW Group itself took a neutral position.
With 3,613 votes cast, 83.5 percent of workers now took part in the vote. 2,628 of them voted for UAW representation. IG Metall at Volkswagen emphasized on Saturday that Chattanooga was the only factory in the core VW brand without employee representation. The president of the European and global works council at Volkswagen, Daniela Cavallo, said the workforce in Chattanooga had “written a piece of US union history.”
In the USA there is no company co-determination like in Germany. Only a union can conclude collective agreements and collective work regulations; without union representation, each employee must negotiate themselves.