THIRD TRY FOR UAW AT VW CHATTANOOGA
The United Auto Workers organizing drive at Volkswagen Chattanooga, so far, has failed to ignite the fireworks that flew in the last two spirited campaigns, according to observers.
That may be short-lived, said a university professor who has researched the 2014 and 2019 union elections at the plant.
“Tennessee politicians and the business community may be keeping their powder dry for now but will speak up if VW employees ask for union recognition and VW counters by filing a petition for a recognition election,” Stephen Silvia of American University said in an email. “That is when speaking out would have maximum impact.”
The comparatively smooth road to date is among the newest wrinkles in the UAW’s third try to unionize the workers who produce the Atlas and ID.4 SUVs at the Chattanooga plant. The union lost close votes in the earlier elections.
The UAW announced in December that more than 1,000 workers had signed authorization cards supporting a union. In early February, the UAW said more than 50% of VW employees had signed cards.
The union said the milestone marks the first nonunion auto plant to publicly announce majority support among auto facilities where workers have begun organizing in recent months.
CHATTANOOGA ‘TEST CASE’
A national right-to-work expert calls the latest effort at the Chattanooga plant “a test case” to unionize automakers in the South and use new labor rules to impose representation and bypass a secret ballot vote, benefiting the union.
Mark Mix, president of the Virginiabased National Right to Work Foundation, which describes its mission as “to eliminate coercive union power and compulsory unionism abuses,” said the UAW campaign at VW is the new model the union can use to try to organize foreign automakers in the region for the first time.
“We think this is the big one,” he said about the Chattanooga drive by phone. “They’ll try it, and this is the model to go against original equipment manufacturers in the South.”
Last August, the National Labor Relations Board in a decision issued new rules, according to the foundation. If the UAW claims a majority of employees signed authorization cards in support of the union and goes to Volkswagen, within two weeks the company must either:
› Recognize the UAW as the monopoly representative of Volkswagen employees without allowing them to vote on union representation in a secret ballot election.
› Refuse to recognize the UAW, in which case the UAW can have the NLRB seek to impose UAW representation on Volkswagen employees without an election.
› Request the NLRB hold an election.
However, the foundation said, if the UAW accuses Volkswagen of committing certain unfair labor practices and the NLRB accepts those accusations, the panel will not hold an election or nullify the results of any election already held, and seek to compel Volkswagen employees to accept monopoly UAW representation.
The UAW is already laying the groundwork for canceling or nullifying a secret ballot election by filing unfair labor practice charges against Volkswagen Group of America, according to the foundation.
Among the alleged unfair practices are plant security guards stopping a group of Volkswagen union supporters from distributing flyers to their coworkers at one of the plant gates. Another employee said he was talking to a coworker about the union in the break room and was accused by VW management of “soliciting” and told he’d be disciplined if it occurred again.
Mix said it’s likely an NLRB regional director in Atlanta will investigate the alleged unfair practices, and if it’s found one charge is legitimate and violated conditions for an election, an order directing VW to bargain with the union can be handed down.
Under that scenario, Mix said no secret ballot election overseen by the board would be held.
He said such activity is an example of the federal board “putting its finger on the scale when it comes to organizing more workers.”
When the NLRB in August issued its new rules in a case involving Cemex Construction Materials Pacific, NLRB Chair Lauren McFerran said in a statement the decision “reaffirms that elections are not the only appropriate path for seeking union representation.”
Silvia, who teaches international economics and relations and comparative politics at American University in Washington, D.C., said he doesn’t think the Cemex ruling will change things at Volkswagen Chattanooga.
“VW management is well aware there is an organizing drive,” he said, adding the company will take the appropriate steps under the ruling.
Dan Gilmore, a Chattanooga attorney who practices labor law, said Volkswagen is trying to not commit unfair labor practices.
“I imagine Volkswagen will do their best to keep everybody in line so if they do have an election, it will be as clean as possible,” he said.
SURPRISED SO FAR
Silvia said he is “slightly surprised” Tennessee business and political communities haven’t weighed in on the current organizing drive because they did in the past.
“They may be concerned speaking out now could inadvertently give a boost to the organizing drive,” he said.
In Alabama, Gov. Kay Ivey, a Republican, recently spoke out against unionization activities at the Mercedes assembly plant in Vance.
“This generated headlines and some backlash, but it doesn’t seem to have slowed organizing there,” Silvia said. “My research has shown that politicians and the business community are less likely to speak out if they think that the company is capable of fending off unionization on its own.”
In 2019, Silvia said Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee intervened by speaking to a mandatory meeting of VW plant employees but only did so after the official campaign period had begun. Lee encouraged workers to vote no.
BLUE OVAL CITY
Mix, the National Right to Work Foundation president, said Tennessee politicians may not have spoken out because of the massive investment announced by Ford Motor Co. in 2021 to create Blue Oval City in West Tennessee.
Ford, which is unionized, unveiled the biggest single business investment in Tennessee history to build its first totally new assembly plant in more than a half century to make electric-powered pickup trucks.
Ford and Korean battery maker SK Innovation said they will build the $5.6 billion “Blue Oval City” in Stanton to construct a battery plant and the assembly facility for the next generation of allelectric F-series trucks.
“If they’re bringing a $6 billion investment, you want to stay in good graces with everybody,” Mix said.
Silvia also said the existing union drive at VW is different because of the 2023 UAW strikes against Ford, General Motors and Stellantis.
He said those strikes “demonstrated that the UAW under the new leadership of (President) Shawn Fain is capable of getting better compensation agreements than companies would offer on their own.”
Also, Silvia said the UAW is taking less of a top-down approach to organizing this time, which has given workers a greater feeling of empowerment and enabled them to tailor their campaigns more closely to the specifics of their plants.
He said winning a representation election would boost organizing momentum elsewhere because it would show it can be done.
“There are many examples of demonstration effects generating waves of unionization, including in the domestic automobile industry in the 1930s,” Silvia said.
“We think this is the big one. They’ll try it, and this is the model to go against original equipment manufacturers in the South.”
– MARK MIX, PRESIDENT OF THE VIRGINIA-BASED NATIONAL RIGHT TO WORK FOUNDATION
UAW SUPPORTER ‘CONFIDENT’
One Volkswagen Chattanooga employee the UAW asked to respond to questions for this story said he’s confident the union will win a vote when the time is set and that all will take place legally. Currently, while the UAW said a majority of the plant’s production workers have signed an authorization card for the union, it hasn’t asked for recognition or an election.
Victor Vaughn, who works in logistics at the plant, said he believes there’s a different dynamic to this campaign compared to past efforts, though he started working at the factory in August 2022.
“There’s a new group of folks there,” he said by phone. “That’s what’s spurring new momentum. We’ll take this as far as we need to make this happen.”
But on Facebook, a member of the group Volkswagen Workers of Chattanooga, Kaye Fiorello, warns about signing the authorization cards, telling employees to ask questions and not unintentionally give away their rights.
VW employee Keri Menendez added in a post: “I believe there are things at VW that could be better. I don’t feel UAW is the correct answer.”
Another VW employee who supports the UAW said by phone he wants a secret ballot election.
“Everyone has got to speak their voice,” said Isaac Meadows, who works in assembly, having started at VW in February 2023. “If we win, we have pride in the factory.”
The number of employees at the plant has grown by about 60% to 5,500 workers since 2019. About 4,100 workers could be among those in a bargaining unit, the company said.
In 2019, 1,609 workers voted with the result 51.8% against and 48.2% for the union. In 2014, 1,338 workers cast votes, with 53.2% against and 46.8% for UAW representation.
VW WORKER RIGHTS
Michael W. Lowder, a Volkswagen Group of America spokesperson, said after a recent briefing to reporters at the plant that officials believe in the right of workers to decide on representation.
At the briefing, the company said workers have a voice at the plant through “roundtable meetings” and other processes at the factory. Safety and other issues are addressed, the company said.
Lowder denied the unfair labor charges brought by the UAW, adding the complaints are “flatly false.”
“We support our employees’ right to collectively decide the question of union representation and have never and will never retaliate against anyone in any way for expressing their viewpoints,” Lowder said in a statement. “What we don’t support is misinformation about our company and our workplace in Chattanooga, and we are confident the complaints will ultimately be dismissed.”
Volkswagen late last year said it was providing an 11% pay raise for production workers, beginning in December. Starting wages at the plant are now $23.42 an hour, rising to a maximum of $32.40, the company said.
Union supporters said pay at VW isn’t meeting what the Big Three automakers are now providing, and they want better safety conditions and work rules.