International Courant
Kelcey Smith shows UAW buttons in Chattanooga, Tennessee on April 10, 2024.
Kevin Wurm | The Washington Publish | Getty Photos
The United Auto Employees mentioned late Friday Volkswagen employees in Chattanooga, Tennessee, have voted overwhelmingly to affix the union – marking a significant milestone for labor organizing and the primary profitable organizing drive by an automaker outdoors of Detroit’s Large Three.
In response to the outcomes launched by the UAW’s chief counsel, the union group handed in help of the UAW with 73% of the vote, or 2,628 staff. in accordance with the message. A complete of three,620, or roughly 84%, of the greater than 4,300 eligible VW staff voted within the election, the union mentioned. Seven ballots had been challenged and three had been declared invalid.
“In a historic victory, an awesome majority of Volkswagen employees in Chattanooga, Tennessee, have voted to affix the UAW,” the union mentioned. mentioned in a information launch Friday night earlier than the official outcomes had been launched by the NLRB. “Whereas votes are nonetheless being counted, the result is obvious: Volkswagen employees in Chattanooga are the primary Southern auto employees outdoors the Large Three to win their union.”
The NLRB should nonetheless certify the result, however barring any sudden points or challenges, the corporate should negotiate in good religion with the union. The conversations will be direct or undergo a mediator first.
VW confirmed the UAW’s victory in a press launch on Friday night, however supplied little remark.
UAW leaders and supporters are anticipated to make use of the victory as a launching level for the union’s unprecedented organizing marketing campaign of 13 U.S. automakers, following main contract victories final 12 months with Normal Motors, Ford Motor and Chrysler mother or father Stellantis.
This aerial view reveals a Volkswagen auto meeting plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on March 20, 2024.
Elia Nouvelage | Getty Photos
UAW President Shawn Fain and others noticed this week’s vote because the union’s greatest likelihood to prepare the VW plant after strikes and report contract offers at Detroit automakers. These agreements embrace a big pay improve, the restoration of cost-of-living changes and different advantages.
The profitable organizing drive comes days after six Republican governors of Southern states, together with Tennessee Governor Invoice Lee, launched a joint assertion condemning the UAW’s efforts to prepare of their states.
“Now we have labored tirelessly on behalf of our constituents to deliver good-paying jobs to our states. These jobs have develop into a part of the material of the auto business. Unionization will surely jeopardize our states’ jobs – in reality, already this 12 months, all UAW automakers have introduced layoffs,” the reason mentioned.
The UAW beforehand failed to prepare the Volkswagen plant in 2014 and 2019 because it confronted better outdoors political stress and opposition from employees. 5 years in the past, employees rejected union membership by a vote of simply 833 to 776.
UAW President Shawn Fain greets members attending a rally in help of the union strike on the UAW Native 551 corridor on the South Facet on October 7, 2023 in Chicago, Illinois.
Jim Vondruska | Getty Photos
The union will now set its sights on negotiations with VW. An anticipated organizational vote of Mercedes-Benz employees at an SUV plant in Vance, Alabama, can be being thought-about.
Employees on the facility filed NLRB paperwork earlier this month for a proper election to affix the UAW. The vote for five,200 staff will happen from Could 13 to 17, the NLRB introduced Thursday.
“The very first thing you need to do to win is consider you may win,” Fain says informed Mercedes-Benz staff final month. “That this job will be higher. That your life will be higher. And that these issues are value preventing for. That is why we arise. That is why you are right here at the moment. As a result of deep down you consider it is doable. “
Fain beforehand pledged to transcend the Large Three and broaden to the ‘Large 5 or Large Six’ by the point the four-and-a-half-year contracts with the Detroit automakers expire in 2028.
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VW employees in Tennessee vote to affix UAW, in historic victory for the union
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