Autoworkers at the Volkswagen Group’s assembly plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, have asked the National Labor Relations Board to allow them to hold a vote on whether to join the United Auto Workers union, according to a UAW press release Monday.
“Today, we are one step closer to making a good job at Volkswagen into a great career,” said Isaac Meadows, an assembly worker at the plant, in a statement.
The news comes less than six weeks after the UAW announced that more than half the plant’s autoworkers had signed union authorization cards. It’s the first non-union auto plant to ask the NLRB for a union election since the UAW won major concessions from the Detroit Three automakers last fall, according to the union.
In November, the UAW launched a nationwide campaign to organize almost 150,000 non-union autoworkers at over a dozen automakers, including Honda, Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota and Volkswagen. Since then, over 10,000 non-union autoworkers at four plants have signed union cards, according to the UAW.
In addition to VW’s plant in Tennessee, the union drive has gained steam recently after more than 30% of autoworkers signed union cards at Hyundai’s assembly plant in Montgomery, Alabama, Mercedes-Benz’s assembly plant in Vance, Alabama, and the Toyota engine plant in Troy, Missouri.
Last month, the UAW announced it would commit $40 million through 2026 to support ongoing unionization efforts at non-union auto and joint venture battery plants. Non-union employees at more than two dozen other facilities are still organizing, the UAW said.
