CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) — The United Auto Workers Union voted Wednesday night in favor of a strike authorization for workers at the Volkswagen Chattanooga plant.
More than two-thirds of union members voted in favor of the authorization.
This vote does not guarantee that a strike will happen, but it does prime union members for a strike if one is called.
Volkswagen said in a statement that their final offer to workers is still on the table. This offer included a 20% raise, cost of living allowance, and other concessions. That offer was rejected by UAW.
Yolanda Peoples, UAW Bargaining Committeeman told us, “Based on the language that Volkswagen had given us from their lawyers, the job security language is not strong enough to represent the city workers of Chattanooga. So that’s the one thing that a lot of the workers were concerned about. Volkswagen tells us in meetings all the time that they are guaranteed to stay in Chattanooga, they’re bringing more product here, things of that nature. And the employees are just wondering why that wasn’t just put inside the contract as well. So that’s the main issue that the employees had as to why they didn’t just want to go ahead and sign it. It was pretty much the job security language.”
Mayor of Chattanooga, Tim Kelly, told us, “I hope it doesn’t happen, I mean again we just work really, really hard just to get a raise for our police and firefighters that’s way below what VW is offering its workers. We try to stay out of these labor disputes, but I hope for the good of Chattanooga that they wrap it up quickly.”
This will be the first time that a non-Big Three automaker has voted for a strike authorization in North America. UAW says healthcare is also a major factor. They say the premiums they currently pay are way above the norm for unionized auto workers at other companies.
