Nora Eckert
CHATTANOOGA, Tennessee (Reuters) – The first ballot counts for a key union vote at Volkswagen’s (ETR:) plant in Tennessee show a majority of workers favor joining the United Auto Workers union.
A victory would make the Chattanooga plant the first auto plant in the South to join a union through elections since the 1940s and the first foreign-owned auto plant in the South to do so.
It would also be a huge boost to UAW President Sean Fein’s campaign to unionize factories owned by more than a dozen automakers across the US, including Tesla (NASDAQ:). Fein and his team have committed to spending $40 million on the effort through 2026.
The official count is conducted by federal officials at the National Labor Relations Board. The UAW, whose representatives are present in the room where the votes are being counted, said that 1,300 to 399 ballots have been counted in favor of the union so far. About 4,300 workers at the factory have voting rights.
Dozens of VW workers wearing red “Future UAW Member” T-shirts cheered as the votes were tallied at the party.
Final results are expected around 11:00 pm ET (03:00 GMT Saturday).
“Everyone else is watching,” said Isaac Meadows, a VW plant worker who said he voted in favor of the union. “This will change the job market across the country.”
Although the UAW narrowly lost votes at the same plant in 2014 and 2019, this year’s vote was preceded by growing public support for the unions and successful contract negotiations last year with the Big Three automakers.
The UAW said it will begin voting once 70% of eligible plant workers sign cards supporting unionization.
Although many expect the UAW’s success to bolster union momentum at other plants, anti-union sentiment has taken root in many parts of the southern United States. Earlier this week, Republican governors in six Southern states, including Tennessee, opposed the union campaign.
“We’re going through an unusual, even unprecedented period when it comes to unions in general, and VW is right in the middle of it,” said Harley Shaiken, a labor professor at the University of California, Berkeley.
Over the past few months, a group of volunteers at the plant that makes the ID.4 electric SUV and other vehicles have been holding organizational meetings to drum up support, receiving occasional guidance and help from Detroit UAW officials.
Some plant employees counter that joining the UAW could weaken workers’ job security in the future.
Workers on both sides agree that the plant was quiet during the vote, unlike in previous years when scores of union supporters and opponents – both employees and members of the wider community – lined the driveway.
On Friday afternoon, plant workers said those supporting the union wore red T-shirts that read “Stand Up UAW,” while those opposed wore white T-shirts that read “Still No UAW,” but both sides removed their T-shirts before entering the plant. due to company rule. Workers say people at the plant are anxious and nervous as the vote draws to a close.
In a 12-page pamphlet created by the UAW, the union laid out its case for how workers would benefit.
“Over the past three years, Volkswagen earned $75 billion in profits,” Fein’s report said. “They can afford to pay you your fair share of wages, benefits and union protections.”
“How do I know? Because every Volkswagen worker in the world is a union member… except here in Chattanooga,” he added.
VW said it had taken a neutral position on the vote at its only non-union plant in the world. The UAW previously represented VW workers at the Pennsylvania plant, which produced Rabbit cars until it closed in 1988.
For decades, the union has targeted Southern auto plants. In addition to two minor losses at the VW plant earlier, the company has suffered three more major misses at its southern plants owned by Nissan (OTC:), most recently in 2017 in Mississippi.
Since then, the broader labor movement has experienced something of a renaissance, with record numbers of workers in a variety of industries going on strike last year.
Last fall, US President Joe Biden picketed outside Detroit, where the union had won double-digit interest rate hikes and cost-of-living increases from General Motors (NYSE:), Ford Motor (NYSE:) and Stellantis (NYSE:). . That triggered a wave of wage hikes by nonunion automakers, which some analysts say was aimed at keeping unions out.
The Mercedes plant in Alabama, where most workers signed cards certifying their support for unions, will be the next plant to hold a UAW election the week of May 13th.