The Union Election At Tennessee's Volkswagen Plant Has Massive Stakes

The United Auto Workers union has struggled for years to organize foreign-owned automakers in the South. Workers say this time feels different.

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — Roughly 4,000 Volkswagen workers here will decide this week on whether to form a union at their assembly plant. Their votes will shape more than just the future of their jobs — they could mark a turning point for both the United Auto Workers and the auto industry in the South.

The election begins Wednesday and runs through Friday. The union previously lost two factorywide elections at the facility, including a stinging 833 to 776 defeat in 2019. Zachary Costello quietly supported that organizing effort. This time he’s made his feelings known to anyone who will listen, throwing himself into the campaign as a member of the organizing committee.

“I don’t want to narrowly lose again. This time, I’m not sitting on the sideline,” said Costello, 34. “To me it feels like the most important thing I’ve ever been a part of, to the point where it doesn’t even feel real.”

The UAW already represents Ford and General Motors workers at auto plants in the South, but for decades the union has struggled to organize foreign-owned “transplant” automakers in the region, where union membership tends to be low and politicians are generally hostile to labor groups.

As a result, the UAW has lost membership as a share of the industry, forcing the union into a more defensive posture in the places where it represents autoworkers — primarily Midwestern plants run by Ford, GM and Jeep parent company Stellantis. Meanwhile, much of the electric-vehicle boom is expected to take place down South, making the union’s inroads there all the more important.