UAW touts membership surge at Volkswagen plant in Tennessee

The United Auto Workers this week announced that a majority of workers at a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tenn., had signed cards to join the union, a critical victory for the UAW since it began its unionization drive in November.

The UAW last year staged a major strike at plants belonging to the Detroit Three automakers, concluding contracts with all three and delivering gains to their members. The union subsequently announced a unionization push at other firms in the wake of that victory.

The development in Chattanooga marked the first instance of a non-union plant announcing majority support since the campaign began, the UAW noted. The plant boasts more than 4,000 workers.

"We realized that the working conditions could be a lot better. And the employees, we don’t have a say in any of the decisions that are going on within the plant," Volkswagen worker Victor Vaughn said. "We’re not being recognized as a major resource for the company. We have a very important job, to put a vehicle on the road that our families are buying, that our kids are riding in. We take pride in what we do, but we don’t have a voice in how we operate. That’s why we’re taking the lead."

Volkswagen is not the only automaker in the UAW's sights, however, as the union has also targeted BMW, Honda, Hyundai, Lucid, Mazda, Mercedes, Nissan, Rivian, Subaru, Tesla, Toyota, and Volvo.

The Chattanooga facility is Volkswagen's only U.S. plant, according to The Hill.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter.