Workers at Volkswagen factory reject unionization

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — Workers at Volkswagen’s plant in Chattanooga voted against forming a factory-wide union, handing a setback to the United Auto Workers’ efforts to gain a foothold among foreign auto facilities in the South.

The vote of hourly workers began Wednesday and concluded Friday night. Preliminary results show 833 employees voted against representation and 776 voted for it, the German automaker said in a statement. VW said about 93% of the roughly 1,700 eligible employees voted.

“Our employees have spoken,” Frank Fischer, president and CEO of Volkswagen Chattanooga, said in the statement.

He said results are pending certification by the National Labor Relations Board and legal review. Fischer said the company looks forward to “continuing our close cooperation with elected officials and business leaders in Tennessee.”

Volkswagen has union representation at all of its other major plants worldwide.

A win in Chattanooga would have offered the United Auto Workers its first fully organized, foreign-owned auto assembly plant in the traditionally anti-union South. UAW officials have questioned why Chattanooga should differ from Volkswagen’s other union-represented plants worldwide, or the General Motors plant in Spring Hill, Tenn., with 3,000 UAW-represented workers.

UAW organizing director Tracy Romero said she was proud of the pro-union voters at the plant.

“The company ran a brutal campaign of fear and misinformation,” Romero said in a statement, adding that the automaker tried to make workers afraid of losing the plant and suffer other repercussions.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, Sen. Marsha Blackburn and other top Republicans urged a “no” vote, saying a union could cause economic harm. Blackburn said attempts to unionize would harm workers, adding, “We don’t need union bosses in Detroit telling Tennessee what’s best for our workers.” The UAW won’t stop trying to organize assembly plants in the South owned by international automakers, said Kristin Dziczek, vice president of labor, industry and economics at the Center for Automotive Research, an industry think tank.

“It’s never the end,” she said before the vote. “Win or lose, it’s hard to organize.”

A big Volkswagen project is now looming for Chattanooga: An $800 million expansion for electric vehicle production beginning in 2022.