• The UAW had previously attempted to unionize the site in 2014 and 2019 but fell short both times.
  • 73% of workers who voted said they wanted to join the union.
  • The UAW is spending $40 million through 2026 to unionize as much of the U.S. auto industry as possible.

A majority of employees at Volkswagen’s factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee, have voted to join the UAW in a secret ballot overseen by the National Labor Relations Board.

Some 83.5% of eligible employees at the facility voted on whether or not to join the UAW. 2,628 workers, or 73%, voted ‘Yes’ while the remaining 985 (27%) voted ‘No’ to being represented by the UAW. This marks the first time an automotive factory in the South has voted to unionize through an election since the 1940s. The site also becomes the first foreign-owned auto factory in the South to unionize this way.

Read: UAW Files Charges Against Mercedes For Alleged Anti-Union Campaign

“This election is big,” Chattanooga paint department worker Kelcey Smith said of the result. “People in high places told us good things can’t happen here in Chattanooga. They told us this isn’t the time to stand up, this isn’t the place. But we did stand up and we won. This is the time; this is the place. Southern workers are ready to stand up and win a better life.”  

The UAW has embarked on an audacious plan to unionize as many auto plants in the U.S. as it can after agreeing to historic new labor contracts with the Detroit Three last year. The union has committed to spending $40 million on its unionization efforts through 2026 and is targeting plants operated by Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai, Tesla, Toyota, and others.

VW’s Chattanooga Workers Vote In Favor Of Joining UAW

“We saw the big contract that UAW workers won at the Big Three and that got everybody talking,” VW worker Zachary Costello added. “You see the pay, the benefits, the rights UAW members have on the job, and you see how that would change your life. That’s why we voted overwhelmingly for the union. Once people see the difference a union makes, there’s no way to stop them.”    

Efforts to unionize the Chattanooga plant had previously been made in 2014 and 2019 but there was not enough support at the time. The UAW has now turned its attention to the Mercedes factory in Vance, Alabama where 5,000 workers will vote to join the union on May 13-17.