Strike authorized at VW's Chattanooga plant, creating a pivotal moment for southern labor
This exercise of leverage could be a defining moment for southern labor organizing
Workers at the Volkswagen assembly plant here in Chattanooga, Tennessee, voted last week to authorize a strike. This doesn’t mean that a strike is inevitable, but it now gives their bargaining committee the authority to call one if they deem it necessary. This is a critical piece of leverage for the union at a time when they are fighting to get a fair contract.
The assembly plant is Volkswagen’s North American hub for electric vehicle assembly and employs over 3,800 people. It is an important employer in the area, but also holds some interesting symbolism as the first place in the U.S. to assemble Volkswagen’s ID.4 electric vehicle — in deeply “red” Tennessee, a state whose lawmakers are mostly hostile to EVs.
History-making vote last year
UAW had been trying to organize it for several years when a breakthrough happened in 2024. Last year, the assembly plant became the first foreign-owned auto plant in the South to unionize, and the first one in the South outside the Big 3 manufacturers.
This was a massive moment. Tennessee is a right-to-work state that is very hostile to unions. The union had been rejected twice in recent years, in part due to heavy campaigning by Volkswagen corporate and by Republican politicians against unionizing. The company held captive audience meetings and other anti-union tactics, and were successful in defeating a union vote in 2019.
The UAW and the global union movement felt more optimistic this time around than in 2014, but the bullying tactics of the massive anti-union movement in southern US turned out to be stronger.
For nine weeks, VW employees were told that a yes vote meant not only a severe threat of job losses, but also economic decline for the state of Tennessee and the entire US South.
Let’s just say, this time around, Volkswagen wasn’t exactly thrilled to have to be dealing with a union (big corporations fucking hate unions, in case y’all didn’t know). They are the very justified thorn in the ass of massive corporations, and the only real line of defense and tool of leverage against them for workers.
Earlier this year, UAW filed unfair labor practices charges against Volkswagen, after the automaker cut production in Tennessee.
A fair and just contract is warranted, but not being delivered
The lead-up to this strike authorization has been over a year long, protracted contract negotiation battle that has stalled. Volkswagen’s last best and final offer was a 20% wage increase, a cost of living allowance, an updated retirement contribution, bonus opportunities and new health and safety processes.
While this may sound decent on its face, you have to realize what these workers are dealing with.
Last year, the company paid out roughly $3.72 billion (€3.2 billion) in a dividend to shareholders, according to the company’s 2024 annual report.
“You guys are making money hand over fist, we can’t even buy stock in our own company that we bleed for every day,” plant body employee and UAW-VW Bargaining committee member and Volkswagen Chattanooga Brooke Benoit said in a video.
There are three big concerns that the offers don’t address
VW’s offer does not include sufficient language guaranteeing protection from layoffs
The healthcare packages do not meet industry standards, and contain high out-of-pocket costs
Insufficient cost of living adjustments, that also don’t meet industry standards
Why this matters
These contact concerns deserve to be addressed and fulfilled by Volkswagen. VW workers are a huge part of the local economy in Chattanooga, and their jobs are difficult, physically demanding, and essential for Volkswagen to continue making vehicles.
Unions in the south have been gutted by right-to-work laws and anti-union politicians who have been hired to do the bidding of massive corporations. UAW workers in Chattanooga are fighting these massive headwinds in order to negotiate the best, ironclad, fair, and dignified contract they can possibly get.
If they’re able to hold the line and secure a solid contract, it will be a powerful test case and show across the south that these anti-labor attacks can be defeated. And it will send a message that worker solidarity can successfully overwhelm a billion-dollar corporation’s decades-long effort to undermine organized labor.
Good for these workers!
Hometown mention❤️🥲