A historic victory for unions [View all]

https://popular.info/p/a-historic-victory-for-unions

Tesnim Zekeria and Judd Legum Apr 23, 2024

On April 19, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) announced that workers at a Volkswagen auto plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, voted to join the United Auto Workers (UAW) union. The union won by a 73% majority, with more than 2,600 votes – a historic feat. This was the UAW’s third attempt in 10 years to organize the plant after it failed to do so in 2014 and 2019. It is also the first time a foreign-owned factory in the South – a region with some of the lowest unionization rates in the country – has unionized. Prior to the win, the factory was the only non-union plant Volkswagen operated in the world.

UAW President Shawn Fain told The Guardian that he expects more auto plants across the South to unionize, saying that “[t]he workers at VW are the first domino to fall.” In a victory speech, Fain said he was “repeatedly” told by pundits that you “can’t win in the South.”

Last fall, weeks of strikes by UAW workers at Detroit’s Big Three – General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis — led to record wage gains, expanded benefits, improved job security, and pension increases. Shortly after, riding the momentum of its landmark contract wins, the UAW announced that it was launching a campaign targeting 150,000 workers in the South across 13 non-union automakers, including Volkswagen.

“Big Three autoworkers at Ford, General Motors and Stellantis just won big raises, more job security and cost-of-living adjustments (COLA) for one simple reason: They’re organized," Fain said at the time. “To all the autoworkers out there working without the benefits of a union, now it’s your turn.”

FULL story at link above.