Workers at Tennessee Volkswagen factory ask for vote on representation by United Auto Workers union
Workers at a Tennessee factory ask for vote on representation by the UAW.
DETROIT — Volkswagen's factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee, is likely to be the first test of the United Auto Workers' effort to organize nonunion automobile plants across the nation.
Workers at the 3.8 million square foot (353,353 square meter) factory on Monday filed paperwork with the National Labor Relations Board seeking an election on union representation, the UAW said.
They are the first to ask for a vote in the union's campaign, which was announced last fall after the UAW won strong contracts with Detroit automakers. The UAW said it would simultaneously target more than a dozen nonunion auto plants including those run by Tesla, Nissan, Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai, Kia, Toyota, Honda, and others.
The drive covers nearly 150,000 workers at factories largely in the South, where the union thus far has had little success in recruiting new members.
The UAW said a supermajority of the VW plant's roughly 4,000 production workers had signed cards supporting union representation,, but it would not provide a number. A union can seek an election run by the NLRB once a majority of workers support it.
It wasn't clear when the election would be held. The NLRB confirmed that it received the petition and tentatively set a pre-election hearing March 26 in Atlanta.
Volkswagen also confirmed receipt of the petition. «We respect our workers’ right to a democratic process and to determine who should represent their interests,» Volkswagen said in a statement. “We will fully support an NLRB vote so every team member has a chance to vote in privacy in this important decision.”
The UAW has said workers in Chattanooga, who make Atlas SUVs and the ID.4 electric vehicle,
Read more on abcnews.go.com
