VW workers are calling for a union vote at the Tennessee plant for the third time

Volkswagen workers in Tennessee who hope to join the United Automobile Workers asked a federal agency Monday to hold elections, a major step toward the union’s longstanding goal of eliminating non-union factories across the country. to organize the South.

With the union’s support, Volkswagen employees filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board asking for a vote on UAW representation. They said more than 70 percent of the 4,000 eligible workers at the plant had signed cards in support of the union.

“Today we are one step closer to turning a good job at Volkswagen into a great career,” Isaac Meadows, an assembly worker at the plant, said in a statement.

If elections were held, they would be the first test of the UAW’s newfound strength, after it staged a wave of strikes in the fall against Detroit’s three automakers — General Motors, Ford Motor and Stellantis — and achieved record wage increases achieved.

The UAW has hoped to use the momentum of its negotiations with Detroit-based manufacturers to organize non-union factories in Southern states that pay significantly lower wages than union factories. The UAW says it plans to spend $40 million on its campaign over the next three years.

Chattanooga workers have voted on UAW representation twice before, and each time a slim majority rejected joining a union. The union faced no opposition from Volkswagen management in a 2014 vote, but there was vocal opposition from Republican state leaders, who suggested that unionizing would jeopardize expansion and job growth at the plant. A second narrow loss came in 2019.

In addition to Volkswagen’s efforts, union campaigns are underway at a Mercedes-Benz plant and a Hyundai plant, both in Alabama. The union says more than half of Mercedes workers and more than 30 percent of Hyundai workers have signed cards supporting UAW membership.

A simple majority is needed to gain representation, but the union says it has advised workers at the factories to do so gain the support of more than 70 percent of hourly workers and establish a robust organizing committee before standing for election.

Volkswagen workers said they wanted to join the UAW to push for higher wages, more time off and improved safety measures. The Chattanooga plant opened in 2011 and makes the Atlas full-size SUV and ID.4 electric car. It is the only Volkswagen factory in the world without trade union representation.

“VW works with unionized workers around the world to make their factories safe and successful,” Victor Vaughn, a logistics executive, said in a statement. “That’s why we’re voting to vote for Volkswagen here in Chattanooga.”

A Volkswagen official told reporters last month that the company would remain neutral during an election campaign in Chattanooga, but that “neutral does not mean silence – it means being impartial to what employees decide.”

The UAW has for years sought to organize non-union auto plants in the South, where it has had to overcome right-to-work laws and widespread suspicion of organized labor. But the unions have had that a revival in recent yearsoften with encouragement from the Biden administration.

The UAW in particular has gained momentum after winning lucrative contracts with GM, Ford and Stellantis. All three companies agreed to wage increases of roughly 25 percent for workers earning the highest UAW wages, and even larger raises for workers lower on the pay scale.

Within a few years, nearly all of the 146,000 UAW workers at Detroit companies will earn more than $40 an hour — the equivalent of about $83,000 a year for those who work 40 hours a week.

The Volkswagen factory announced an 11 percent wage increase shortly after the Big Three strikes, bringing the highest hourly wage for manufacturing workers to $32.40.

Non-union auto plants typically start new workers at less than $20 an hour and pay top wages of less than $30 an hour.