The day before a vote on union representation at the Volkswagen plant in Tennessee, Gov. Bill Lee and five other Southern governors are warning workers not to vote for a union because it would jeopardize their jobs.
About 4,300 workers at the VW plant in Chattanooga will begin voting on Wednesday for representation by the United Auto Workers union. The vote totals are expected to be tabulated by the National Labor Relations Board on Friday evening.
The union election is the first test of this The UAW’s efforts to organize non-union auto factories nationwide after its success I won big raises last fall after a strike against automakers in Detroit ford, General Motors and Jeep manufacturers Stellantis.
The governors said in a statement Tuesday that they have worked to create good-paying jobs in their states and that “unionization would certainly put our states’ jobs at risk.”
“We see it in the aftermath of the Detroit Three strike, where these automakers are rethinking their investments and cutting jobs,” he said opinion said. “Putting businesses in our states in this position is the last thing we want to do.”
Lee said in a statement that Alabama Gov Kay IveyGeorgia Gov. Brian Kemp, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott have signed on as opponents of the UAW’s campaign. The offices of Ivey, Kemp and Reeves confirmed their involvement and McMaster posted the statement on its website. A message seeking comment from Abbott was left Tuesday.
The governors said they wanted to continue expanding manufacturing in their states, but a successful union drive would “halt that growth to the detriment of American workers.” The governors also claimed that foreign autoworkers closed plants after successful union campaigns.
“In America, we respect our workforce and don’t have to pay a third party to tell us who can pick up a box or flip a switch,” they wrote.
The UAW declined to comment.
After a series of strikes against automakers in Detroit last year, UAW President Shawn Fain said the union would simultaneously target more than a dozen non-union auto plants, including those it operates Tesla, NissanMercedes Benz, Hyundai, Kia, Toyota, Hondaand other.
The effort involves nearly 150,000 workers in factories mostly in the South, where unionization rates are low and the UAW has had little success recruiting new members.
Earlier this month, a majority of workers at a Mercedes-Benz plant near Tuscaloosa, Alabama, filed paperwork with the NLRB to vote on UAW representation.
The UAW Pacts with Detroit automakers provide for a 25% salary increase until the contracts end in April 2028. As the cost of living rises, workers will see about 33% in salary increases, equivalent to a top wage of $42 an hour or more than $87,000 a year and thousands in annual profit sharing.
VW said Tuesday that its workers can earn over $60,000 a year, excluding an 8% attendance bonus. The company says it pays more than the median household income in the area.
Volkswagen has said it respects workers’ rights to a democratic process and to decide who should represent their interests. “We will fully support an NLRB vote so that every team member has the opportunity to vote confidentially on this important decision,” the company said.
Some workers at the VW plant that makes Atlas SUVs and ID.4 electric vehicles said they wanted more say in rosters, benefits, pay and more.
In two previous elections, the union came close to employee representation at the VW plant. In 2014 and 2019, workers were in short supply rejected a plant-wide union within the UAW.