UAW Accuses VW Of Unfair Labor Practices After Cutting Production Shift

Last year, the majority of employees at VW’s factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee, voted to join the United Auto Workers (UAW) union, but as the UAW negotiates its first contract with the automaker, it accused VW of unfair labor practices.

Earlier this week, Volkswagen revealed that it will cut a shift at the Chattanooga plant, reducing it to a two-shift operation. The site is currently building the ID.4, and according to the company, it does so because of concerns about electric vehicle demand. It is offering employees a “voluntary attrition program,” which includes a severance package, retirement options and benefits.

Read: VW Offers Its UAW Workers 14% Pay Rise Over Four Years

Understandably, the powerful union isn’t happy. In a statement, UW president Shawn Fain said that VW is the second most profitable automaker in the work and that it has failed to meet the basic standard at the bargaining table that rivals Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis have done.

“Nearly a year ago, thousands of Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga voted to join the UAW, to win the respect and dignified life that union autoworkers at the Big Three have enjoyed for generations,” Fain said. “This is a company that makes 75% of their North American products in Mexico, paying highly exploited workers around $7 an hour to sell cars for tens of thousands of dollars in the US. They do this to avoid paying a living wage and drive a race to the bottom in the auto industry. It’s bad for workers everywhere.”

The UAW says it has notified the Trump administration of Volkswagen’s “unacceptable, anti-union, anti-worker, and anti-American conduct.”

“The 4,000 autoworkers in Chattanooga deserve better. America deserves better. And the UAW is going to fight like hell to deliver for Chattanooga, for Volkswagen autoworkers, and for the whole working class.”