Workers at the Chattanooga Volkswagen plant began receiving strike training meetings from the United Auto Workers (UAW) on Tuesday to prepare for a possible walk out if contract negotiations with the auto company fail.
In April 2024, Volkswagen employees at the Chattanooga plant voted to join the UAW after two prior attempts to unionize failed. Workers continue to negotiate their first union contract with Volkswagen nearly 18 months after joining the UAW.
Among demands for “higher wages” and “affordable health care,” workers, according to the UAW, are “bargaining over a broad set of workplace issues, including stronger safety standards, fair scheduling policies, paid leave, protections against unjust discipline, and a meaningful voice in workplace decision-making.”
Chuck Browning, a member of UAW’s negotiating team, said Volkswagen recently presented what they called their “last, best, and final offer,” but explained that in his 30 years of bargaining experience, such offers are rarely truly final and warned that this is a tactic used to “stall” negotiations and “intimidate” workers.
With regard to strike authorization, Browning said that the UAW Constitution requires a two-thirds majority vote by secret ballot to approve a strike.
“The cards that are being circulated are simply pledges to support strike authorization when the secret ballot vote takes place,” Browning explained in a video.
“This is to show the company that we are serious about winning a better life for ourselves and for our families. It doesn’t mean we’re going on strike. It doesn’t mean we’re walking away from negotiations. It means we’re sticking together until we get what we deserve. We still hope we can achieve these goals without a strike. However, it is important that we prepare for one just in case,” he added.
A possible strike comes as 160 workers at the Chattanooga Volkswagen plant are set to be placed on furlough this month as the company scales back production of its fully-electric SUV model, the ID.4.
Volkswagen’s ID.4 is one of three models manufactured at the company’s Chattanooga plant. The facility also manufactures the Volkswagen Atlas and Volkswagen Atlas Cross Sport.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “Volkswagen Chattanooga Building” by Volkswagen Chattanooga.
Let them strike …. and waste away on the stupid picket lines.
If VW had any sense, they’d shut the plant down and start again elsewhere. Once union thugs get a toehold, job performance and product quality are headed downhill.