In a landmark victory for organized labor, workers at a Volkswagen plant in Tennessee voted overwhelmingly to join the United Auto Workers union, becoming the first non-union auto plant in the Southern state to do so. It became.
the company said A statement late Friday said the union received 2,628 votes to 985 against the three-day election. Two bids by the UAW to organize a Chattanooga plant in the past decade were defeated by narrow margins.
The result is a breakthrough for the labor movement in a region where anti-union sentiment has been strong for decades. And it comes six months after the UAW won record wage increases and improved benefits in negotiations with the Detroit automaker.
For more than 80 years, the UAW has represented workers employed by Stellantis, makers of General Motors, Ford Motor Co., Chrysler, Jeep, Ram and Dodge vehicles, and several heavy-duty truck manufacturers in the South. and is organizing a bus factory.
But the union had failed in previous attempts to organize more than two dozen auto plants owned by other companies, stretching from South Carolina to Texas and north to Ohio and Indiana. .
The victory in Chattanooga will allow the UAW to shift its focus to other southern plants. Voting will take place in mid-May at the Mercedes-Benz plant in Vance, Alabama, near Tuscaloosa. The UAW hopes to organize six or more factories over the next two years.
A series of UAW victories could have significant implications for southern autoworkers and the broader auto industry. Nonunion autoworkers typically earn significantly less than workers in UAW-represented factories, and collective bargaining can significantly increase pay, benefits, and job security.
“Volkswagen workers will have a chance to obtain better wages and working conditions under collective bargaining agreements,” said Arthur Wheaton, director of labor studies at Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations. “They're going to have a lot of job protections under their union contract that they don't currently have.”
At GM, Ford and Stellantis, layoffs must be planned with advance notice to unions, and workers will receive additional unemployment benefits. Non-union factories are not required to take such measures.
The UAW's large presence in the South has disrupted the auto industry, where contracts with the UAW make GM, Ford and Stellantis' labor costs higher than non-union rivals such as Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Tesla and Hyundai. It will also become
“This is a turning point for the industry,” said Harley Shaiken, a professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, who has followed the UAW for more than 30 years. “This sets an example that will resonate throughout the industry and other industries with large non-union memberships.”
The UAW's success in negotiations with the Big Three in the fall sparked interest among southern autoworkers in organizing their factories, prompting the UAW to launch a $40 million effort to help them. the union said.
Volkswagen workers who voted in favor of UAW representation said they hope the union will help them win higher wages and more paid time off. The Chattanooga plant currently pays a maximum hourly wage of about $35 an hour, while the maximum hourly wage that GM, Ford and Stellantis currently pay UAW workers is more than $40 an hour.
The UAW contract also provides nearly all company-paid health insurance, generous profit-sharing bonuses, cost-of-living adjustments to protect workers from inflation, and generous retirement plans.
Among those who voted for the UAW in Chattanooga was Tony Akridge, 48, a second-year worker working the night shift at a VW factory developing motors and transmissions. He said the $23 an hour wage was more than he was making at his previous job, but he voted for the UAW in hopes that the union could help improve workers' standards of living.
“It gives us a better opportunity,” Akridge said. “They pay us well, but not enough for what they have to do.” Citing the rising cost of living, the union said, “In return, we get better benefits and better benefits. It will make life a little bit easier,” he added.
Some companies are counting on UAW agents to bring in more paid time off. Most VW employees must take unpaid time off or use paid time off to cover the time when the factory shuts down during the summer or around holidays. Even if they do, many will have only a few days left to cover sick days and family leave, and not the rest of the year, workers said.
Craig Jackson, 56, who voted for the union, said: “We're forced to use PTO often instead of using it every once in a while for our convenience.”
At the Detroit automaker, UAW employees are given up to five weeks of vacation, 19 days of paid vacation, and two weeks of parental leave.
Workers who opposed the VW union said they did not know what benefits the UAW would bring them.
“They actually have no guarantees,” said Darrell Belcher, 54, who has worked on the council floor for 13 years and voted against the UAW in the past two elections at the plant. “I'm not saying you won't gain anything, but you'll have to lose something to gain it.”
As voting begins, the governors of Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Texas (all Republicans) issued statements on Tuesday, saying that unionization is an important part of the auto industry in each state. said it would threaten their jobs.
“We want to preserve good-paying jobs and continue to grow America's auto manufacturing sector here,” the governors said. “A successful unionization campaign will halt this growth to the detriment of American workers.”
But even some VW workers who opposed the UAW said they didn't think union representatives would jeopardize the Chattanooga plant. “I don't see this plant ever leaving Chattanooga or the South,” said Cody Rhodes, 34, a 13-year veteran of the auto body shop. “Volkswagen is investing too much in this area.”
The Chattanooga plant opened in 2011 and employs 5,500 people, about 4,300 of whom were eligible to vote in union elections. The plant produces his VW Atlas, a large sports utility vehicle, and the ID.4 electric vehicle. This was Volkswagen's only plant in the United States and the only Volkswagen plant in the world that was not unionized.
The UAW had several advantages in gaining favor with Volkswagen. The initiative had the support of IG Metall, the powerful trade union representing Germany's autoworkers. German companies also have a strong tradition of giving employees a voice. Under German law, worker representatives must hold half of the seats on a company's supervisory board (equivalent to the board of directors).
The UAW can now turn its attention to the Mercedes factory in Alabama, which employs about 6,100 people. The union had previously tried to organize the plant, but the effort died before a vote could be held.
jamie mcgi Contributed to the report.