After years of unsuccessful attempts at unionization, workers at Volkswagen’s Chattanooga assembly plant voted to join the United Auto Workers Friday night, marking the beginning of what could be a huge expansion for a union on the heels of historic victories in Detroit.
The UAW’s huge wins last year saw wage increases for Ford, GM, and Stellantis workers, as well as Cost of Living adjustments, long-term product commitments for plants, retirement improvements, the removal of a controversial “tier-system” that many thought left too many people in temporary roles for too long, and much more. The UAW’s agreements in Detroit were a monumental win for American labor.
And that momentum has now carried over to Tennessee, where the UAW gaining a stronghold is a big deal not only for VW workers, but for workers at other non-union assembly plants across America, especially in the south.
Volkswagen workers just made history!#StandUpUAW pic.twitter.com/hRFaiFlPtq
— UAW (@UAW) April 20, 2024
Workers at the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, TN vote to unionize with the @UAW.
Workers at the Mercedes plant near Tuscaloosa will hold their own union election next month.@ShawnFainUAW says the UAW is “going to carry on this fight to Mercedes.”#ALPolitics pic.twitter.com/TYLK7bgftg
— Alexander Willis (@ReporterWillis) April 20, 2024
Ironically, Volkswagen was the last foreign automaker to have a union shop in the United States—the Westmoreland, Pennsylvania plant—which closed down in 1988 due to an overall decrease in sales. Since then, none other has joined the UAW ranks.
View this post on Instagram
View this post on Instagram
Given VW’s size and especially its long history in the U.S., Friday’s results could give the UAW the momentum it needs to start knocking on the doors of Honda, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Toyota, Volvo, Mazda, … basically every other foreign automaker on our shores. Not only that, but Lucid, Tesla, and Rivian, as well. The UAW is planning on holding a vote for workers at Mercedes-Benz in Tuscaloosa, Alabama in May. Many workers are unionized in Mercedes’ home country; why not here, too?
The New York Times breaks down the meaning of tonight’s historic results in Chattanooga:
But the union had failed in previous attempts to organize any of the two dozen automobile factories owned by other companies across an area stretching from South Carolina to Texas and as far north as Ohio and Indiana.
[…]
“Tonight you all together have taken a giant, historic step,” Shawn Fain, the president of the U.A.W., said at a celebratory gathering in Chattanooga. “Tonight we celebrate this historic moment in our nation’s and our union’s history. Let’s get to it and go to work and win more for the working class of this nation.”
[…]
A large U.A.W. presence in the South would also upset an automotive landscape in which U.A.W. contracts have left G.M., Ford and Stellantis with higher labor costs than nonunion rivals like Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Tesla and Hyundai.
“This is a watershed moment for the industry,” said Harley Shaiken, a professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, who has followed the U.A.W. for more than three decades. “It sets an example that would resonate across the industry, and across other industries where there’s a large presence of nonunion workers.”
It shouldn’t be understated how big of a deal it is that this happened in a southern state, where republican lawmakers have expressed animosity towards unions for, well, seemingly forever.
Time and time again, Republican governors have expressed concern for their states being business-unfriendly, and claimed that nonunion jobs would suffer.
No matter what you make of it, we’re in for a fascinating year. Public opinion of union membership has been quite positive in recent years, nearly the same as it was in the late ‘60s, according to Gallup polling. Hm, I wonder what happened in the ’80s that could’ve contributed to that?
2024 is just barely getting started. We’ll most likely have a lot more unionization news to report on in the coming weeks and months.
hell yeah, nothing but solidarity with the People’s Car people
Unions are theft. Their main interest is self-Interest. They’re too big and too many people work for them. The UAW has a revenue of nearly 300 million dollars a year and sit on 1 billion dollars in assets. They do not care about the worker at all, they care about subscriptions to keep the revenue stream going. Whatever benefit there is to the worker is often dubious or superficial or even worse, entrenches a culture of work to rule and laziness that ultimately risks the companies existence.
Historically, organized crime (mob) got into cash cows like gambling, hookers, theft, alcohol and drugs, extortion and UNIONS. Fitting as unions are a cash cow specializing in extortion and theft.