VolkswagenWorks council boss Daniela Cavallo (49) has called on the car manufacturer’s workforce at the US Chattanooga plant to vote for the US employee representative body UAW in the upcoming union election.
The Volkswagen company is unmistakably linked to co-determination, she said in a video message to employees in the US state of Tennessee, which was published on Saturday. Co-determination has been in place for more than 80 years Germany lived. “It is important to us worldwide that all colleagues at Volkswagen organize themselves into unions. And we miss you in Chattanooga on our committees.”
Next week, the workforce at the plant will be asked to vote for the fourth time whether they want to be represented by the US auto union UAW with union leader Shawn Fain (55). The union was unsuccessful in the last votes. The state of Tennessee, like all southern US states, is traditionally considered anti-union. In Tennessee, around 4,000 employees have been building cars since 2011, initially the Passat and more recently the ID.4. If more than half of voters vote for the American auto union UAW, there will be employee representation in the future. Also the last of the 114 worldwide Volkswagen-Works would therefore have a works council.
US President Joe Biden (81) has now also intervened in the conflict. He pointed out that unions were represented in many Volkswagen plants. “I believe that American workers should also have a voice at work,” he said. “The decision whether to join a union is for workers to make.” So far, the UAW is not represented in any of the German car manufacturers’ plants that have been located in the southern states.