DETROIT– On the eve of a vote on union representation at Volkswagen’s Tennessee plant, Governor Bill Lee and several other Southern governors are telling workers that voting for a union will jeopardize jobs.
About 4,300 workers at VW’s Chattanooga plant will begin voting Wednesday on whether to be represented by the United Auto Workers union. Vote totals are expected to be reported Friday evening by the National Labor Relations Board.
The union elections are the first test of the UAW’s efforts to organize non-union auto plants across the country, following their success last fall with big wage increases following the strike against Detroit automakers General Motors and Jeep manufacturer Stellantis.
The governors said in a statement Tuesday that they have been working to bring good-paying jobs to their states.
“We see the fallout from the Detroit Three strike as automakers are reconsidering their investments and cutting jobs,” the statement said. “Putting companies in our states in that position is the last thing we want to do.”
Lee said in a statement that Alabama Governor Kay Ivey, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves, South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster and Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed. The offices of Ivey, Kemp and Reeves confirmed their involvement and McMaster posted the statement on his website. A message seeking comment from Abbott was left Tuesday.
The governors said they want to continue growing manufacturing in their states, but a successful union drive will “hold back this growth at the expense of American workers.”
The UAW declined comment.
After a series of strikes against automakers in Detroit last year, UAW President Shawn Fain said it would simultaneously target more than a dozen non-union auto plants, including those of Tesla, Nissan, Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai, Kia, Toyota, Honda and others.
The campaign includes nearly 150,000 workers in factories largely in the South, where the union has so far had little success recruiting new members.
Earlier this month, a majority of workers at a Mercedes-Benz plant near Tuscaloosa, Alabama, filed papers with the NLRB to vote on UAW representation.
The UAW pacts with Detroit automakers include a 25% wage increase by the time the contracts expire in April 2028. With the increase in the cost of living, workers will see approximately 33% in pay increases for a top assembly wage of $42 per hour, or more. than $87,000 per year, plus thousands in annual profit sharing.
VW said Tuesday that its employees can earn more than $60,000 a year, not including an 8% attendance bonus. The company says it pays above the area median household income.
Volkswagen has said it respects employees’ right to a democratic process and determines who should represent their interests. “We will fully support an NLRB vote so that every team member has the opportunity to vote in privacy on this important decision,” the company said.
Some workers at the VW plant, which makes Atlas SUVs and ID.4 electric vehicles, said they want more control over scheduling, benefits, pay and more.
The union came close to representing workers at the VW factory in two previous elections. In 2014 and 2019, workers narrowly rejected a factory-wide union under the UAW.
