The US auto union UAW has a good chance of conducting collective bargaining for employees at the US Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga (Tennessee) in the future. Around 70 percent of the employees at the plant have spoken out in a petition to the National Labor Relations Board in favor of union representation at their plant, reports on Monday, among others, “New York Times
“
A good dozen factories with a total of around 150,000 employees, especially in the south of the USA, have so far no union representation – including production plants of Tesla, Nissan, Mercedes-Benz as well as Hyundai and Toyota, reports “abcNEWS
“. Companies that are not represented by a union generally pay significantly lower wages.
At the VW Chattanooga plant, UAW has already narrowly failed with its project twice – in 2014 and 2019 – after voting. According to reports, it is unclear when the vote might take place. Volkswagen opened the Chattanooga plant in 2011 and produces the Atlas SUV and the ID.4 electric car there. It is the only Volkswagen plant in the world without union representation.
The UAW has already failed twice at VW in Chattanooga
The VW management itself is reluctant to do so, in contrast to its rivals Tesla not against UAW representation. Volkswagen said the company respects the right of workers to decide on this issue. However, some prominent Republican politicians from Tennessee had urged employees in election campaigns to vote against the union. They claimed the UAW was hindering VW factory expansion and job creation.
VW itself had wage increases of 11 percent after the weeks of strikes and the deals with the “Big Three”. announced, but is still below the agreements that the UAW had implemented for the major US car manufacturers at the time.
UAW also wants more influence at Mercedes-Benz
The UAW is also running its campaign at a Mercedes-Benz plant and Hyundai plant in Alabama. According to the UAW, more than half of Mercedes workers and about 30 percent of Hyundai workers have expressed support for union representation so far. A simple majority is enough for the US auto union to have elections in the factories, reports the “New York Times
“. However, Shawn Fein apparently attaches importance to reasonably secure majorities in order not to lose another vote.