Tag Archive for: Region 8

Chattanooga, TN – Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga, Tenn., have filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board for a vote to join the UAW, after a supermajority of Volkswagen workers have signed union cards in just 100 days.

In a new video, Volkswagen workers speak out on why they’re voting yes to join the UAW.

“Today, we are one step closer to making a good job at Volkswagen into a great career,” said Isaac Meadows, a production team member in assembly. “Right now, we miss time with our families because so much of our paid-time-off is burned up during the summer and winter shutdowns. We shouldn’t have to choose between our family and our job. By winning our union and a real voice at Volkswagen, we can negotiate for more time with our families.”

“We are voting yes for our union because we want Volkswagen to be successful,” said Victor Vaughn, a logistics team member at VW. “Volkswagen has spent billions of dollars expanding in Chattanooga, but right now safety is a major issue in our plant. Just the other day, I was almost hit by four 500-plus pound crates while I was driving to deliver parts. That incident should’ve been followed up within the hour, but even after I clocked out no one asked me about it. VW has partnered with unionized workforces around the world to make their plants safe and successful. That’s why we’re voting for a voice at Volkswagen here in Chattanooga.”

“I come from a UAW family, so I’ve seen how having our union enables us to make life better on the job and off,” said Yolanda Peoples, a production team member in assembly. “We are a positive force in the plant. When we win our union, we’ll be able to bargain for a safer workplace, so people can stay on the job and the company can benefit from our experience. When my father retired as a UAW member, he had something to fall back on. VW workers deserve the same.”

The milestone marks the first non-union auto plant to file for a union election among the dozens of auto plants where workers have been organizing in recent months. The grassroots effort sprang up in the wake of the record victories for Big Three autoworkers in the UAW’s historic Stand Up Strike win.

The Chattanooga plant is Volkswagen’s only U.S. assembly plant and employs over 4,000 autoworkers. It is the only Volkswagen plant globally with no form of employee representation.

In a historic outcome, early-career researchers at the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, MD, have voted by nearly 98% to form a union, NIH Fellows United-UAW. 1,601 workers voted in favor of unionizing, with only thirty-six voting against.

This is the first union within the U.S. federal government for research fellows, which includes postbaccalaureate, predoctoral, and postdoctoral researchers.

“We won our union!” NIH Fellows United-UAW announced on the social media platform X after the voting process was completed. “We are the largest union of federal employees to form in more than a decade, and the first union of Fellows ever at a federal research facility. We’ve made history together.”

In June of this year, workers filed with the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) to form their union. In July, the NIH questioned the legal standing of fellows unionizing, submitting paperwork to the FLRA stating many of the potential union members weren’t employees and thus, didn’t have the right to form a union. The following month, NIH dropped opposition, paving the way for the vote.

Improved pay and working conditions and enhanced protections against harassment and excessive workloads are the primary issues workers would like to see addressed in a first contract between their union and the NIH.

“I’d like to welcome the NIH unit to the UAW,” Region 8 Director Tim Smith said. “I am looking forward to meeting and shaking the hands of each and every one of these new members. We will stand hand-in-hand to achieve a contract that helps them build a better life. They may be the first union in Region 8 for government researchers, but working together, it won’t be the last.”

Chattanooga, Tenn. — At noon on Monday, December 18th, UAW President Shawn Fain will accompany a delegation of Volkswagen workers and community and faith leaders to deliver a letter to Volkswagen management demanding the company end its union-busting and intimidation, as workers organize to join the UAW. 

“These workers at your plant are our neighbors, congregants, family, and friends, and we applaud them for having the courage to demand better for themselves and our community,” reads the letter from CALEB (Chattanoogans in Action for Love, Equality and Benevolence), a community and faith coalition advocating for economic justice in Chattanooga. “However, we are deeply concerned by the stories Chattanooga workers have shared with us regarding Volkswagen’s efforts to stop them—in some cases illegally—from exercising their rights.” 
 
On Monday, December 11, Volkswagen workers filed federal unfair labor practice charges against Volkswagen for illegally intimidating, interfering with, and spying on pro-union workers. 

Today, VW workers are filing another federal labor charge against the company for unlawful company policies concerning social media, dress code, and flyering that have a chilling effect on workers’ rights to stand up and speak out publicly about their working conditions and the need to unionize. 

Volkswagen’s illegal actions come on the heels of the UAW announcing that well over 1,000 workers, making up over 30 percent of the Chattanooga plant, have signed union cards as part of a national movement of non-union autoworkers organizing to join the UAW in the wake of the union’s record contract victories at Ford, GM, and Stellantis.