UAW’s organizing drive picks up steam after contract wins

The UAW’s organizing drive is heating up.

Fresh off winning record contracts with Ford, GM, and Stellantis, the union has set its sights on organizing auto workers at foreign car companies and EV startups. It went public on Thursday with an organizing campaign at Volkswagen’s only US plant, in Chattanooga, Tenn. The union said that more than 1,000 workers, or around a third of the workforce that builds cars like the Atlas and electric ID.4, had signed union cards.

The campaign could pave the way for the plant to unionize, and marks the UAW’s latest attempt to win over workers in a region that has long resisted organized labor.

“This is a major win for the union, coming at a critical moment,” Harley Shaiken, a labor expert and professor emeritus at UC Berkeley, told Tech Brew. “And this is particularly significant, given VW’s history with organizing.”

The UAW attempted to organize workers at the Chattanooga plant in 2014 and 2019. Both efforts resulted in narrow losses for the union and were met with “fierce opposition” from Tennessee elected officials, Shaiken said.

Resistance is likely to crop up again, but Shaiken believes the UAW has some advantages this time: the foundation of the previous organizing drives, the US labor movement’s hot streak, and having the “most pro-union president in US history” in the White House.

“One other thing: The UAW has hired three key organizers, which are the contracts at the Detroit-based automakers,” Shaiken said.

Those contracts, which workers at Ford, GM, and Stellantis recently ratified, followed a six-week strike by the UAW across all three automakers. The deals include 27% in compounded wage increases through 2028, cost-of-living adjustments, a shorter pathway to top wages, and commitments from the companies to convert temporary workers to permanent status, among other gains.

The UAW then launched a bid to organize the rest of the industry: BMW, Honda, Hyundai, Lucid, Mazda, Mercedes, Nissan, Rivian, Subaru, Tesla, Toyota, Volkswagen, and Volvo.

“To all the autoworkers out there working without the benefits of a union: now it’s your turn,” UAW President Shawn Fain said last month.

In a statement, VW noted a recent 11% pay bump, $4.3 billion it’s invested in the Chattanooga plant since 2008, and the recent addition of 1,200 new production jobs.

“We believe in frequent, transparent, and two-way dialogue with our people to help them stay informed and connected and help shape our world-class assembly environment,” the company said. “We also respect the right of our workers to determine who should represent their interests in the workplace.”

In a UAW release, workers at the Chattanooga plant were quoted expressing concerns about safety, long hours, and turnover at the plant.

“I like working at VW, I’m proud to make these vehicles, but I’m not proud of the way we’re treated,” Billy Quigg, a production worker, said. “The forced overtime on Saturdays, the lack of time off, it keeps us away from our families. That’s why we’re building the union.”