Volkswagen’s Sort-of Union in Tennessee
VW and the UAW are odd bedfellows at a Southern U.S. plant
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A year ago in Chattanooga, the United Auto Workers suffered a surprise setback. A vote at Volkswagen, the union’s high-stakes stab at securing a rare foothold among foreign automakers in the South, ended in embarrassing defeat. Yet in January, VW and the UAW started holding thrice-monthly sit-downs anyway. Some labor leaders hope it will soon blossom into an unusual “minority union” arrangement, where a union represents and negotiates contracts for those employees who sign up, whether or not it has majority support.
“It’s uncharted territory,” says former National Labor Relations Board Chair Wilma Liebman, who since has done some legal work for the UAW. “I certainly think it has promise. Where it all ends up, I guess, remains to be seen.”