The United Auto Workers (UAW) is facing a crucial moment as workers at a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, are voting on whether to join the union. The UAW has been striving to expand its reach to nonunion factories, especially in the South, where foreign-based companies have been dominating the auto industry.
Despite previous rejections of union membership by workers at the Chattanooga plant, the UAW is now under new leadership and has been emboldened by recent successful confrontations with major automakers in Detroit. The union's new president, Shawn Fain, has led the UAW in a series of strikes that resulted in lucrative new contracts, including substantial wage increases for union workers.
