The date is set for a vote by the workers at Volkswagen's (VLKAF) Chattanooga factory to decide whether or not they would like to be represented by the United Auto Workers (UAW).
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As per a notice released on March 25, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) said that union elections will take place next month, on April 17-19, at the plant.
The election is the first test in an effort, led by UAW President Shawn Fain, seeking to organize many nonunion facilities of automakers beyond the Detroit Big Three that are scattered around the nation.
The campaign, which started last fall, simultaneously targeted the nonunion plants of brands of Asian and European automakers like Toyota, Hyundai and Mercedes-Benz, as well as the electric automaker Tesla, seeking to add up to 150,000 represented workers to the union.
Before the NLRB decision, the UAW said that a supermajority of eligible workers at the VW plant signed union cards in a span of three months. Workers at the plant, which produces the ID.4 electric crossover and the Atlas SUV, told CBS News that UAW representation could mean a better outcome for themselves and their families.
"We need a say in our schedules, benefits, pay, and more," VW Chattanooga worker Isaac Meadows told CBS. We're proud to work at Volkswagen, but we also know the value of a voice at work."
Volkswagen said in a previous statement that it "will fully support an NLRB vote so every team member has a chance to vote in privacy in this important decision."
However, other powers that be are not as silent about the unionization wave. Many of the factories that the UAW has targeted — including Volkswagen's, are located in the South, where local politicians are notoriously anti-union and hostile to any organizing effort.
In a recent article by the Chattanooga Times Free Press, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee was quoted saying that it would be "a mistake" to unionize the Chattanooga plant.
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"I've long said workers that have a tremendous future and an opportunity because of the high demand, those workers should keep their future in their own hands," the Republican governor told reporters. "I think it would be a mistake for workers at that plant or any plant to turn their future over to someone else, namely to the union."
The current attempt by the UAW to unionize the Chattanooga plant would not be the first time workers attempted to band together. Two previous elections back in 2014 and 2019, resulted in workers narrowly rejecting a factory-wide union under the UAW.
As landmark contracts between the UAW and Detroit's Big Three came to fruition, Volkswagen was one of many nonunion automakers to increase worker pay as a response. In November 2023, the German automaker announced an 11% pay increase for Chattanooga workers, as well as a compressed wage progression timeline that has since begun in February.
According to the UAW, Volkswagen's Chattanooga plant is the only factory run by the brand whose employees are not represented by any union.
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