Workers at a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, voted overwhelmingly to join the United Auto Workers (UAW) in a historic win for organized labor. The German automaker’s Chattanooga plant was the only VW factory in the world to not be represented by a union.
It was also the first time a foreign-owned auto manufacturing factory in the southern United States unionized. UAW’s next union vote will take place at two Mercedes plants near Tuscaloosa, Alabama, in mid-May.
Republican leaders in Southern states have taken a hard line against UAW’s organizing efforts. The governors of Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas signed on to a letter referring to UAW representatives as “special interests looking to come into our state and threaten our jobs and the values we live by.”
Labor expert Cedric de Leon, a professor of sociology and labor studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, spoke with YES! Senior Editor Sonali Kolhatkar on YES! Presents: Rising Up With Sonali, putting UAW’s Volkswagen victory into context.