Union vote underway at Volkswagen's only US plant

Workers astatine Volkswagen's lone U.S. mill are voting this week connected whether to subordinate nan United Auto Workers successful what is nan union's 3rd effort astatine organizing nan plant.

Voting began Wednesday for nan 4,100 hourly labor astatine Volkswagen's mill successful Chattanooga, Tennessee, and will widen done Friday.

A Volkswagen automobile assembly works March 20, 2024, successful Chattanooga, Tenn. The 4,100 hourly workers astatine nan works are voting this week connected whether to unionize pinch nan UAW. (Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images / Getty Images)

This is nan 3rd clip successful 10 years nan UAW has sought to correspond VW Chattanooga workers, and winning a ballot to shape nan VW works would beryllium a important milestone for nan union. 

The UAW has tried and grounded for years to shape nonunion U.S. auto factories, astir of them built by Asian and European automakers successful confederate states. But aft a successful simultaneous onslaught astatine Detroit's Big Three automakers past year, nan UAW is emotion momentum to expand.

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UAW President Shawn Fain vowed nan national would "pull retired each nan stops" to shape workers astatine non-union automakers like Volkswagen, Tesla, Toyota, Honda, Mercedes and others aft securing record-setting contracts for UAW workers astatine Ford, GM and Stellantis.

UAW members be a rally successful support of nan labour national onslaught astatine nan UAW Local 551 hallway connected nan South Side Oct. 7, 2023, successful Chicago. (Jim Vondruska/Getty Images / Getty Images)

In 2019, VW workers astatine nan works rejected national practice by an 833-776 vote. The Chattanooga works is Volkswagen's only non-union works globally.

"We respect our workers' correct to a antiauthoritarian process and to find who should correspond their interests," Volkswagen told FOX Business successful a connection pursuing nan announcement of nan latest vote. "We will afloat support an NLRB vote, truthful each squad personnel has a chance to ballot successful privateness successful this important decision."

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Volkswagen said successful November it would raise nan salary of its factory workers successful Tennessee by 11%, joining respective different overseas automakers that announced important salary and compensation improvements pursuing nan UAW's statement pinch nan Big Three automakers.

Volkswagen's Chattanooga, Tennessee, mill is its only non-union works globally. (Friso Gentsch/picture confederation via Getty Images / Getty Images)

The time earlier voting began astatine VW's Chattanooga plant, nan Republican governors of Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas issued a associated connection successful guidance to nan UAW's unionization push into nan South.

"Unionization would surely put our states’ jobs successful jeopardy. In fact, successful this year already, each of nan UAW automakers person announced layoffs," nan governors' connection says.

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"In America, we respect our workforce, and we do not request to salary a 3rd statement to show america who tin prime up a container aliases flip a switch. No 1 wants to perceive this, but it’s nan disfigured reality," nan connection continued. "We’ve seen it play retired this measurement each azygous clip a overseas automaker works has been unionized; not 1 of those plants remains successful operation."

FOX Business' Eric Revell and Reuters contributed to this report.