A historic victory for unions

People celebrate after the United Auto Workers (UAW) received enough votes to form a union at a UAW vote watch party on April 19, 2024 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. (Photo by Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images)

On April 19, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) announced that workers at a Volkswagen auto plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, voted to join the United Auto Workers (UAW) union. The union won by a 73% majority, with more than 2,600 votes – a historic feat. This was the UAW’s third attempt in 10 years to organize the plant after it failed to do so in 2014 and 2019. It is also the first time a foreign-owned factory in the South – a region with some of the lowest unionization rates in the country – has unionized. Prior to the win, the factory was the only non-union plant Volkswagen operated in the world. 

UAW President Shawn Fain told The Guardian that he expects more auto plants across the South to unionize, saying that “[t]he workers at VW are the first domino to fall.” In a victory speech, Fain said he was “repeatedly” told by pundits that you “can’t win in the South.”

Last fall, weeks of strikes by UAW workers at Detroit’s Big Three – General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis — led to record wage gains, expanded benefits, improved job security, and pension increases. Shortly after, riding the momentum of its landmark contract wins, the UAW announced that it was launching a campaign targeting 150,000 workers in the South across 13 non-union automakers, including Volkswagen. 

“Big Three autoworkers at Ford, General Motors and Stellantis just won big raises, more job security and cost-of-living adjustments (COLA) for one simple reason: They’re organized," Fain said at the time. “To all the autoworkers out there working without the benefits of a union, now it’s your turn.”

With Volkswagen overwhelmingly voting to unionize, the UAW is shifting its focus to a Mercedes-Benz plant in Alabama, where more than 5,000 workers will vote in May on whether they want to be represented by UAW. Earlier this month, in a press release, the UAW said that a majority of the workers at the plant “had signed union cards” and that a “supermajority of Mercedes-Benz workers” signed a petition in support of a union election. According to the Alabama Reflector, “workers at the Mercedes plant say that pay and benefits have stagnated, and objected to irregular shifts and the use of temporary workers.”

But a growing number of Republicans are pushing back against the UAW’s efforts. The day before the Volkswagen vote, Tennessee’s Republican Governor Bill Lee joined a coalition of five other Republican governors opposing the UAW’s unionization campaign. “Unionization would certainly put our states’ jobs in jeopardy – in fact, in this year already, all of the UAW automakers have announced layoffs,” read the statement, which, aside from Lee, was signed by the governors of Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Texas. “[W]e have serious reservations that the UAW leadership can represent our values.” Yesterday, Lee said, “that he thinks workers at a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga made a mistake by voting to unionize under the United Auto Workers.”

But the governors’ criticism lacks context. Many of the workers affected by cuts were temporary workers who “do not have the same pay or benefits as traditional assembly plant workers under the deals.” In some cases, laid-off workers at one plant “were transferred to other nearby facilities.” Further, there is no evidence that the layoffs are related to unions. As CNBC explains, “Automakers have been cutting costs in part to invest billions in all-electric vehicles, as well as to prepare for slowing market conditions and fears of an economic downturn.” And Tesla, which is not unionized, laid off 10% of its workforce this year. 

Meanwhile, studies show that unions reduce wage inequality, improve workplace conditions, and increase the wages of both union and non-workers. Economist Stephen Silva told the Washington Post that “UAW success could upend their economic models [in the South] built on relatively low pay and minimal worker voice.”

A stinging defeat for the Koch network 

The organizing victory for the UAW was also a major defeat for right-wing advocacy organizations—many of which were funded by billionaire Charles Koch—which have been aggressively attempting to thwart unionization in the South for more than a decade. 

In 2014 a constellation of right-wing groups launched an aggressive campaign to defeat an earlier unionization effort at the VW plant in Chattanooga. The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), an organization that receives funding from Koch, spent months distributing "materials, such as flyers and pamphlets, detailing the negative economic consequences of UAW representation." The CEI campaign also included billboards with the slogan, "Auto Unions ATE Detroit. Next Meal Chattanooga?" 

The allegation was that if workers at the Chattanooga VW plant were to approve a union, it would sink the entire city's economy. "The citizens of Chattanooga should know that if the plant workers decide to unionize, the consequences could be devastating — for the plant, the town, and indeed all of Tennessee," Matt Patterson, the CEI fellow who ran the campaign, said. "The United Auto Workers union has a history of saddling companies — and entire industries — with job-killing costs and red tape." According to a June 28, 2013, press release by CEI, Patterson's effort involved coordinating with "representatives from the Tea Party."

Americans for Tax Reform (ATF), another group that has received millions from the Koch network, rented "13 billboards in Chattanooga" to promote anti-union messaging. One ATF billboard reinforced the CEI's Detroit messaging: "Detroit. Brought to you by the UAW." It featured an image of a factory that closed more than 50 years earlier. Another ATF billboard rebranded the UAW as "United Obama Workers," accusing the union of supporting "liberal politicans [sic]." An ATF website devoted to anti-union advocacy, workerfreedom.org, declared claimed that "UAW wants your guns." 

These efforts, along with the work of other right-wing groups, were successful. VW workers in Chattanooga narrowly voted against organizing with the UAW in 2014. A vote in 2019 also failed. 

In 2024, they tried to run the same playbook. Americans for Prosperity, a group founded and funded by Koch, rented billboards around Chattanooga. The messages were familiar: "UAW broke Detroit. Is Chattanooga next? Vote NO," "No Detroit shutdowns. Say NO to UAW." and "UAW = LAYOFFS."

This time, however, the scare tactics did not work. 

The Chamber of Commerce, a lobbying group that represents most large American companies, pinned the blame on VW for not actively trying to defeat the union. "The company decided to remain neutral in the campaign, meaning that the union’s story was the only story being heard by workers," the Chamber's Glenn Spencer said in a statement. "[T]his would be the equivalent of only one candidate giving speeches, sending out mailers, and launching advertising." Spencer warned that, soon, the newly unionized autoworkers will seek "wage increases." 

But VW, unlike the Chamber, understands that, by giving workers a formal voice, unions can benefit the corporation — improving productivity, morale and working conditions.