Steel Markets
February 15, 2014
UAW Loses Vote at Volkswagen Chattanooga Plant
Written by Sandy Williams
The Volkswagen AG workers at the Chattanooga automotive assembly plant voted 712 to 626 against unionizing on Friday, Feb. 14.
The defeat is a major setback for the UAW which has seen dwindling membership in the last several years. The UAW’s membership has fallen from a peak of 1.5 million in 1979 to just around 400,000 nationwide. No foreign-owned automaker has ever been organized by the UAW in the Southern U.S. so organization of the Volkswagen facility would have been a triumph for the UAW. The move toward organization was backed by Germany’s IG Metall union and had Volkswagen’s cooperation in allowing union organizers to talk to workers.
