Posted 4/22/24

Employees at the Volkswagen factory in Chattanooga overwhelmingly voted to join the United Auto Workers union Friday in a historic first test of the UAW’s renewed effort to organize nonunion factories.

The union wound up getting 2,628 votes, or 73% of the ballots cast, compared with only 985 who voted no in the election

Both sides have five business days to file objections to the election.

Twice in recent years, workers at the Chattanooga plant have rejected union membership in plant-wide votes, most recently, they handed the UAW a narrow defeat in 2019.

But this time, they voted convincingly for the UAW, which is operating under new leadership directly elected by members for the first time and basking in a successful confrontation with Detroit’s major automakers.

Next up for a union vote are workers at Mercedes factories near Tuscaloosa, Alabama, who will vote on UAW representation in May.